Mid-term...UGG!

       Seeing I have only seen the grades for two classes, one of which I can’t stand (“cough” “cough” anthropology), I’m not jumping with joy over my grades, but it’s not to far from what I excepted. I don’t prioritize very well, I tend to watch the show I missed last night and push my work for a later time. This has never been a real big problem for me before. In high school, it felt like I had all the time in the world, even during field hockey season. I could push something off ‘till the very last minute, (five minutes before class), and still get an “A”. But in college, I don’t seem to have enough time to do anything, and when I’m done with classes for the day, I just want to be done. Before I know it, its 2:00 in the morning, my roommates passed out, and I realize how  tired I am, too tired to do any work.

      

SCSU’s Field Hockey season just ended last Saturday, and I’m already going insane with all the time I now have on my hands. I mean I can only watch so much TV, and even after my daily afternoon nap, the sun is still out. I don’t have much else to do but school work…story of my lack of a life. So what I believe I need to work on is prioritizing while in season. Getting my work done before practice and relaxing after a game. This might be a challenge for me. I’m not an over achiever, I’m perfectly fine with a passing grade, and after the season ended, all my grades are passing. I kind of need to be inspired to put in effort. If I’m not inspired, I’ll put in minimal effort that will get me a passing grade, so I can move on to bigger and better things. But don’t worry, Professor G., I truly forgot about the “Campus Safari,” and really enjoy you class :). On that note though, I should probably start writing down assignments, which is another goal of mine for the rest of this semester, which I did. Campus Safari is duly  noted on my calendar. But writing down assignments might help me in anthropology, and other classes I don’t enjoy to much. Just writing them down will remind me that I do have to do the work to get a passing grade.

      

Overall, I’m not to upset with the first half of the first semester of my freshman year. I’m not failing a class, some days I want t drop out, but I’m still able to come up with reasons to say, and now that field hockey is over, I have something to look forward to…PARTIES!!!!

Just kidding :D 

My Crazy Life

This week I went out with a group of girls. I know this might sound easy for most of you, but for someone with a social anxiety disorder, it’s quite a bit out of my comfort zone. I was diagnosed with social anxiety when I was 13. When I’m in a group of people larger then 2, (not including myself), I shut down. I get caught in my head, thinking about what to say, how to say it, and when I should say it. And by the time I built enough confidence to say it, the time has already passed and the other people have already moved onto another topic. I used to be real bad, I’d get claustrophobic, and it would get hard to breath, and I would have to leave the room, before I started hyperventilating. But I’ve gotten a lot better since then.

I spent most of high school in my room, alone, because that was comfortable for me.  So when I got to college, I swore to myself that I would become more comfortable being with a group of people. Practice makes perfect, right? So this past Saturday was my last field hockey game, and a group of girls invited me out to celebrate. It was a group of six of us, and even though I was nervous and shacking in the beginning, they made it really easy for me. They talked to me, asked me question and included me in the conversation, when most people forget I’m there. Before I knew it, I wasn’t hesitating to say anything, because they didn’t have any remark if I said something stupid, like imagine people to do. They laughed along with me, instead of at me. And on top of it, they invited me out again later this week.

Even though going out was scary at first, and bailing did cross my mind more than once, I feel very accomplished by facing my fear. Even if these girls don’t become my best friends, it’s a start. Maybe next time I wont take as long to open up and talk.   

Brainstorming	5 Hours
Interviewing	2 Hours
Gathering other information	3 Hours
Transferring material onto computer	4 Hours…waist of time…
Learning the software	30 Mins
Putting the video together	10 Hours
Editing	15 Hours
Other	2 Hours

I will be honest; I had a rough start with this project. I lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer.  I spent half my Sunday, (my only day off), hunting down people to interview, only to find the cord I do have wont attached to my camera. I spent the next 4 to 5 hours tearing apart my room looking for it and calling my mom who tore apart my room at home looking for it, and just my luck, its nowhere to be found.  So I have started over using the camera on my computer. All the people I recorded on my camera where people from my hometown and I have known them for forever, so it was easy to ask for help. But now that I’m back at Southern I don’t know who to ask. I have four interviews, two of which are one of my professors and my coach. It’s hard for me to talk to people, and like I said in previous posts, I don’t have many friends here, so that’s challenging.

Like I have said before, I am an art major with a concentration in graphic design and photography. I also went to Valley Regional High School, which has one of the best graphics and photography programs in the state. So you can say I know what I’m doing when it comes to video making. I just won $500 for a video I made just this past spring called “It’s Never to Late” , for a anti-bullying campaign. Not to brag…but I have been trying to sneak this video into my blog for a couples of weeks now :D.  Anyway, it hasn’t taken me long to figure out iMovie. The only problem is how amateur it is. I was taught on Final Cut Pro, which is what the professionals in Hollywood use. iMovie isn’t capable of doing everything that Final Cut can do, so its hard to have all these ideas to make my video amazing, and having to settle for second best. I was taught that you spend the majority of your time editing the video. There’s a lot in the category of editing however. First you film, or in this case interviewing, and everything else; gathering other information, putting the video together and revising the video, is editing.  So that’s how I am approaching this project. All the hours in the chart above are a rough estimate of the hours I have spent so far.

          

"Can I take a moment of your time...."

     The biggest problem I have with the Mid-Term Video project is getting people to interview. I have herd all the excuses from I don’t know what critical thinking is, to I’m camera shy, to I don’t have the time. I herd the last one from one of my professors, (you can guess which one).

    

I try to be persistent in asking people if I can interview them, but I am not a very demanding person, when they say “no”, I say “ok” and walk away. I don’t have friends to fall back on, and I don’t know how to convince other people that this is not a waist of their time. I learned, however, that there is a very small handful of people that are willing to help people in need. There was one girl who came up to me, after struggling for an hour and a half, and said, “I see your struggling, how can I help.”  It is because of that girl I continue to ask people for an interview. I figure in a school as big as this one, there should be people who will let me waist some of their time.  

What is Critical Thinking?

The dictionary defines critical thinking as; disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.

So what does that mean? Critical thinking is the logical way of think; you take all the information given to come up with a nonbiased conclusion. For the mid-term assignment for my INQ class, I have to make a video asking people what they think critical thinking is. But I have to put my own spin on it. I am an art major; I plan in double majoring in Graphic Design and Photography. So I my question is: What is critical thinking when involving art?

So we defined critical thinking as coming to a nonbiased conclusion with the given information. But this definition only describes a situation where all the given information is written and clear. But art is visual and unclear (or audio, music is art too :D). You have to search for the information to make a conclusion. In this case, to be a good critical thinker you have to view the artwork with a clear open-mine. When I go to museums or find artwork on the Internet, be for I determine what the piece is, I discover how it makes me feel (what emotion I get when I view it). With that information I can come to a conclusion of what the artist might have been feeling.  After I know how the piece makes me feel, look more closely to see what the artist has created. If the subject matches the feeling, than I can come to a conclusion of what the artist might of created in that piece. I say might because art is suppose to be a discovery.  Art is like a story with a cliffhanger ending, the artist gives you the story, but you have to come up with the ending.  So in a way there is no correct answer when critically thinking about art. You have to go a piece with a completely open-mine and ready to draw your own information for a conclusion that will be very different than the person standing next to you. This is why I love art, you can think whatever you want about the piece in front of you, and not anyone, not even the artist, can tell you to think otherwise. Art frees your mind and soul.

How to survive stress

            The biggest stress in my life right now is meeting people and how I have no time to do that. I have never been good at making friends, and I’m on the field hockey team at Southern, which consumes all of my time. I’m not allowed to go out, which is what? The number one thing college students want to do, and even if I could, I’m gone every weekend at a game. Two months into my freshman year and I haven’t made a friend.  These are a few things I have done through out the years to relieve some stress

Sleep through out the day, there’s nothing wrong with an afternoon nap. Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays I am done with my classes at 11, and I don’t have practice until 2:30, so it take a nap. Its only 2 hours, but I wake up feeling refreshed and good. Another thing that I do is listen to Mozart when I sleep. It might sound weird, but I swear to god it works! It clears the mind, and it's easier to focus.

Remind yourself that there’s always tomorrow. But knowing that, don’t put all your focus on the future. Live in the moment, make best of what you have at the moment your have, and if you make a mistake there’s always tomorrow to learn and recover from it. I have trouble doing this. I tend to daydream a lot about what I want my future to be, and how happy I’ll be then. But the fact is that the future is not set in stone, you don’t want to get there and be unhappy with it because it’s not what you dreamt up ten years earlier.

Always have someone that you can really depend one. The one person that I know will always be there for me is my boyfriend. He’s my best friend and we have been through a lot together. We have been together for three years, and still my parents don’t want us together.  Its hard on a couple when your trying to move in the next stage of your relationship and one you don’t have a family that supports you. Through the good and many bad times Zac has always been there for me. He’s held me when I cried, made me laugh harder than I have every laughed before, and he is always the first to apologize after a fight. I trust him more than anyone in the world. Talking to him every day reminds me that I’m not as alone as I feel most days.

So in conclusion; sleep through out the day, remember there is always tomorrow, and most importantly; have someone in your life you can depend. These are the three things that help me through the day, and I hope they ca help you too. 

But I don’t feel good…

 In high school there really was no penalty for missing a couple days of class. You could pick up right where you left off, or talk to the teacher to get jist of what you missed. But in college being sick is no longer an excuse for missing class. Three missed classes and your done, plus its now your responsibility to get a full understanding of what you missed. So what happens if you are sick? Every year at this time I ALWAYS get sick, and it ALWAYS last for weeks, however it gets easier each year. I just got over the worst of my annual cold, and didn’t miss a class. Here’s how:

Eat right. At the end of August I start my healthy eating kick. Drink a glass of OJ in the morning, eat fruit through out the day, a fiber bar, source of protein and EAT YOUR VEGETABLES! Fruit and vegetables have key vitamins that your body needs to keep your immune system up and running, and fiber is good for your diet and will keep you full through out the day.  I am vegetarian, so it sometimes yard to find a good source protein. I’ll eat egg whites this time of year, but usually get my protein from cheese yogurt and beans. For everyone else, just eat some meat. 

Drink tea with local honey. Teas like Green, White, Chamomile, and Earl Gray have naturally antioxidants in them. One of my favorites is Green tea with pomegranate. Pomegranates are an excellent source of antioxidants; so it’s a win win.  Sweeten your tea with local honey. Local honey comes from local bees that make their honey from local flowers that produce the pollen the make you sniffle this time of year. Consuming local honey is like taking a flu shot for your allergies, it doesn’t make you immune to them but will make them less intense. Try not to put milk in your tea, milk produces mucus and is not good for a runny nose.

Take medicine. If you do get sick take medicine. It sounds obvious, but there are those people out there that refuse to take any medicine. Guys, its out there for a reason, please use it but don’t abuse it. Don’t be afraid to switch brands to find a couple that work for you. I say a couple because companies don’t change their formulas often, so your body could get use to it and the medicine wont work as well. So it’s always good to have a back up. Take the recommended dose at the recommended intervals. If the box says to take one pill ever four hours, do it. Medicine doesn’t just make you feel better it actually helps you get better. 

I hope this helps anyone who needs it. Remember, don’t be a drama queen. You or someone important to you is paying for your education, so the only time you should be missing class is if you are so sick you cant get out of bed, and by that point you should probably see a doctor.