As the semester comes to a close.....

After this semester I realized how blogging actually helps in the writing process. At the beginning of the year when Mr. Wermers first mentioned that we were going to be blogging I was not very happy and thought it would be just a tedious waste of time. After taking the course however, I have realized that at times yes blogging since it is required every week can become tedious; it is also very helpful to put my ideas on paper and to just write what I am thinking. I have never been the type of person to keep a diary or journal at home, but I think that may be something I should do. It has been helpful to actually relieve my mind of everything I am thinking by writing it all down on paper. I don’t think I ever realized, but since I have come to college I have found so many new techniques for relieving my stress. Blogging, taking breaks between studying, reading a book for comedy or even a magazine, and taking a nap all can help in relieving stress. With all the finals both this week and next week I will need to find time to take my own advice and relax a little in-between studying. Cramming isn’t the best idea anyway, so taking some small breaks will be useful. I wish everyone in the class good luck on their finals and I was happy to have learned the idea of blogging in this course!

Mother's Day Ideas....

As the semester comes to a close it is so hard to believe this is going to be one of our last English blogs from 102. It was hard for me to choose a topic for this blog, but after looking on my homepage of yahoo for a couple minutes I quickly realized Mother’s day is a week from today. Mother’s day always has been a special holiday in my family. We of course send cards to my grandmas that don’t live here and we always try to do something special for my mom. Since I still live at home, I think I might make breakfast for her this year. She really enjoys the Swedish pancakes I make, so I think that will be the highlight of her morning. My dad always buys my mom flowers and my brother, my dad and I all buy her cards for the day. It always seems to take me forever to pick out cards for either of my parents as I always pick out the sentimental cards that have to say the message I want to portray to them. My brother, on the other hand, just picks the funniest card and calls it good. As for a gift I have no idea what to get my mom this year. On yahoo they have a list of possible gift ideas, which range from jewelry, to clothes, to tea and other relaxing items, to photo albums to plants. Of these ideas I think I may see what I can find in the relaxing category, but as of now I still have no clue what sounds like the best possible gift. Class do you have any suggestions as to what you are getting your mom for Mother’s day or what sounds like a good gift for a special mom?

School, School, School…..

It is so hard to believe that all my classes will be over within the next two weeks and that some of my finals are coming up next week! I am so surprised at how fast this semester has gone by, and how much harder my classes have seemed this semester. First semester seemed easy and manageable, whereas this semester has been much more of a challenge. The main reason for this is I am currently taking calculus, and it has been probably the most difficult course I have taken up to this point in school. After talking to my teacher about why I am struggling in the class, it became apparent that at the University of Arizona calculus courses are for people that already know calculus and basically need a review of it. My teacher actually told me this, and I was quite shocked to find out this information. Having never taken calculus before, this class has been quite a struggle for me, but I have been giving my best efforts in hope that I can pass the class. This Wednesday I have my last calculus exam before the final so I have been frantically trying my best to work on as many calculus problems as possible. There however is only so much calculus I can do before I no longer actually can figure out what I am doing, so luckily this is a nice break in between working on calculus. I have realized that college is all a matter of priorities and scheduling. Next semester I need to be more organized in planning out a set study and homework schedule, and follow it, so I am as productive as possible. College has been a great experience so far and I look forward to many more semesters of it, I however will be quite happy when this calculus class is over!

Journal #7 - Improvements In Writing

First year composition at the University of Arizona has made me realize that I can always become a better writer, and that multiple drafts are always a necessity. In high school I always received A’s on English class papers and in college this has changed. English 102 specifically has given me the knowledge and skills for me to be able to critically analyze and improve upon my papers as well as my classmate’s papers. It has been surprising for me to realize how my writing can improve and how much I have grown as a writer since I came into college level English classes. My first paper in English 101 I was good at focusing on a purpose and writing for certain audiences and as the course of the year continued I became better and better at understanding the idea that it takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text. In high school and at the start of college I would generally complete two or three drafts and call my paper good, now however I complete four edits and am still realizing that there is more I can add, take out or change about my paper. I have always been generally good at formatting texts and controlling syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling. In all my papers there are always some errors with grammar but overall I feel even with those errors I have improved. After going back through my first English 101 essay I also realized that I was trying to sound smarter and more intelligent by changing my tone, which I now know is not necessary. As I look back on my first paper I also realize I still wrote like I did in high school. I started my paragraph off with a question and my title was even a question.

Some advice I would give to students just starting out in first year composition would be:
1) Do not procrastinate! In English classes it will be necessary to start your papers right when you get the assignment so you can make as many drafts as needed, and you will need time to brainstorm ideas.
2) Go to your teacher’s office hours, the Writing center, and have your peers or critique your essays. It is always best to get the most feedback possible for your paper.
3) Realize that attendance is important in all your classes. In English coming to class is necessary to fully understand the assignments and to learn how to better rhetorically analyze different texts and peer editing in class also is helpful.
4) After writing your paper, read the paper aloud or have someone read your paper to you, often you will find you made careless mistakes that don’t sound right.
5) Use your agenda often and plan out a schedule so you don't fall behind in any of your classes.
6) Look up your teachers on ratemyprofessors.com or websites similar to this to make sure you don't get into a completely horrible class that will be hard to switch out of.

Journal #6 - Voice & Tone

Voice and tone are both really important pieces of writing. Voice was one of the six traits of writing that teachers in high school even looked for. Having voice in a paper is essential because it lets the reader know your attitude and thoughts about a subject. Also when your paper has voice the readers can almost hear your style of talking through your writing. It is important to not try to sound like someone you are not. As Mr. Wermers mentioned in class we shouldn’t try to just sound smarter in our papers because we think it sounds good, but rather it is better to just write with the normal style we normally would, and therefore be more informal in our writing. Tone is very similar to voice, and the tone is specifically the way in which you express your writing. Depending upon the topic and the reader your tone and voice may be different, however always try to sound like yourself.

To develop proper voice and tone first the situation you are writing about must be assessed. When writing a letter to a friend you are obviously going to have a much different tone than if you are writing a college acceptance letter. One must be must more formal than the other. Voice and tone can be compared to actual speaking in that we adjust the volume and pitch of our voice, our writing must also be tuned to fit the situation. Some people might think that voice and tone really isn’t that important when writing, but the reality is that it is much more important than we may think it should be. Just as we all will write this journal post differently voice is important in separating peoples styles of writing and in determining peoples opinions.

Some helpful hints I can think of for striking the proper tone in writing are to sound confident and research on topics so you know the situation before writing about it. Another helpful hint is just don’t over think writing. I think sometimes when we are writing we get so wrapped up in trying to sound smart and to portray the best argument that we actually wind up not sounding very intelligent and our writing seems to be a bit jumbled. When writing the first draft I would say to just get your ideas on paper, without thinking about grammar or how you sound, because those things can always be changed later. Once the first draft is complete then go back and change all the little errors you may not have caught when simply writing your paper. Re-read your paper and determine the voice you used in your paper. Often this will be the voice you want to portray to your reader, because it is coming straight from how you feel about a subject. If this isn’t the proper tone then you can change it accordingly. Another helpful hint would be just make sure in papers you don’t contradict yourself. I know this however is easier said than done, because I have done this many times in my papers, but one of the ways to sound the best is simply to not contradict yourself. Hopefully these are some helpful tips, but I look forward to seeing the class's ideas about how to develop the proper voice and tone in papers.

RELAY FOR LIFE!

Last night starting at 6:00 p.m. I began the 2010 Relay for Life walk that was here at the University of Arizona. Relay for Life is a walk that is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, and all the money raised at the event goes to cancer research and support. At the event someone from the team you are on must always be walking and there are luminaries that line the track which people donate to those that either died from or currently have cancer. I did the walk last year as well, and its great to see so many people that come out and help support cancer and help raise money for such a great cause. The night is not only an event that makes you sad; it also brings peoples spirits up. This event has music, food, dancing, karaoke and other events that make it fun and enjoyable to go to. This walk and other walks like these make you feel good about yourself, but also so fortunate to not be sick. Luckily cancer isn’t something that has taken the lives of anyone in my direct family, although it is so hard to see how many people it truly affects. One of the speakers at the event last night was around our age, if not a little older and he has a type of cancer that is incurable and he has to therefore for the rest of his life get chemotherapy daily. This is so saddening for me to hear, as I can’t imagine having to go to the hospital everyday for chemotherapy. The event really if nothing else makes people think about how horrible cancer really is, but also that there is hope, and it was so heartwarming to see so many survivors of cancer that had such a positive outlook on life and were now cancer-free.

Journal #5 - Meaning of Copper Structure

The four men that are depicted in this statue seem to be very strong, wise, and unique. Each has a slightly different stance, but all seem to be fighting against something. The statues seem pure in that they are made of raw materials that show their age. The copper seems to look rusted in areas, yet the structure looks solid. On each side of the wall that separates them there are two men on each side that are pushing up against each other. On each side it seems as though one of the men is pushing against the wall while the other is leaning against the wall. I think the men that are pushing against each other to represent some sort of barrier, possibly in society. These barriers however also could represent some sort of war against the men. The men all appear to be in shape and have similar body types. As with all wars there are two sides that have opposing ideas and something generally separates them from each other. The wall with barbed wire on the top shows the combat of the men to get to the other side, to “win” the struggle. Wisdom I believe is shown in this structure as the men all look serious and have very solid looking stances. This shows that they are confident and prepared to break away from whatever barrier they may be facing. Each of the stances are unique and represent the differences among members of a group, even that may have the same ideas or opinions about a topic, or in this case the war they are fighting.

My Week....

This week I am struggling to come up with a blog post of the week. Currently I am trying to find the motivation to finish all my papers, and math webassign homework that I need to work on for the week. Mondays are definitely the longest days of my week as I have straight class from 12:00 until 7:15, and today I just happened to have a chemistry test at 5:00. I realized that I now am not the biggest fan of classes back to back like this with no breaks, and having classes so late at night. I have been trying to plan my schedule for next semester and I have now changed my schedule so I now have more morning classes and I end my day earlier. Surprisingly, unlike many college students last semester I had 8am classes and enjoyed getting my classes out of the way earlier in the day. On the topic of registration I have heard many peoples ideas about the new UAaccess system. Many people have not been too thrilled about this system being put in place for registering for classes. I have already put the classes I want for next semester into my shopping cart. Many people think this website is an added stress, but I have actually found it useful and helpful because I like to plan out my schedule ahead of time and this allows me to actually do this. Also I am able to look at my teachers ahead of time, which is something I like to do to prepare my schedule.

Happy Easter!!!

So I do realize that there are many people that don’t celebrate Easter, but at my house it always has been an important holiday. On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is one of the days many people whether very religious or not actually attend Christian churches. Easter is the day that Jesus came back to life after he was raised from the dead and three days after is death on the cross. As a Christian this is a very important holiday that makes me remember that Jesus died for us. At my house we always have family and friends over for a very delicious meal, so I am definitely looking forward to having a wonderful feast tomorrow! :) Decorating eggs, having a visit from the Easter bunny and having Easter egg hunts are fun pastimes that sadly we no longer do to celebrate on Easter. Although my parents just may buy my brother and I some candy or chocolate! A funny story that I usually think of when I think of Easter is when I was a young girl, my brother was two and I was about 4 years old and we were on an Easter egg hunt in the house and I would collect all my eggs and put them into my basket. My brother would instead of actually looking for eggs just grab them out of my basket and put them into his. I surprisingly never realized this, but I guess in the end it didn’t really matter who had more eggs in their basket, it was all just a matter of fun. I hope all of you that celebrate Easter have a fun day! and for those of you that don't I wish you a great Sunday as well!

Pandora Radio!

So call me crazy but I just discovered the website for Pandora radio after many of my friends convinced me that this website was awesome and I saw Professor Wermers using it in class! It has become a really popular website as you can pretty much make a playlist with anything you enjoy listening to. I really enjoy now listening to Pandora when I am on the computer especially because I can put on whatever playlist sounds good at the time. For example when I am doing homework I will put on the jazz or classical genre playlist. When I am just in the mood for some upbeat music I can put on the pop or new age playlists. If you really enjoy a certain artist you can even make a playlist that will play music both by that artist and others that are very similar to the style of music as the artist you enjoy. I have found this really handy as I enjoy the band the Cab and I now know many other bands that play similar music to them. Plus the best part of this website is it is free and open to anyone to use. As I am sure most of the class has probably used this website I have really found it a convenient and easy way to learn about new artists and play music that I enjoy. If you haven’t used this website I highly encourage you to try it! :)

Journal #4 - What is good writing?

This resource was a great tool, as I haven noticed many of these mistakes in my writing and even in other peoples writing during peer editing. Often many of the errors that were listed are things that we commonly do and don’t even realize until we re-read over our paper or until the teacher points out the error. After looking at this website and the paper I just wrote for this class I began looking to see what I may need to change. The errors I have the most difficulty with are sentence fragments, comma splices, superfluous commas, and unclear pronoun reference. These all make my writing appear weak when in reality once these things are changed my writing looks much better. I think I am prone to sentence fragments because often when I am writing I tend to think of ideas and write what comes to mind and when I re-read through my paper I am not careful enough to change these errors. With comma splices I often end my thoughts and try to combine ideas adding conjunctions and commas when in reality this is an incorrect error and I need to shorten my sentences and just make some of my ideas into multiple sentences as opposed to one long sentence with many commas. This leads to my next error, which is that I often have superfluous commas and in sentences I tend to add commas much more often than they are needed. Lastly with unclear pronoun references, I don’t realize that I didn’t mention the person I am talking about before I start saying he, she, etc. This can be a big problem especially in research papers as it makes me sound very unknowledgeable when this often isn’t the case. In this paper that I just wrote, I am going to try to be more aware of all these mistakes to make my paper sound better and so I don’t get marked off for silly grammar mistakes that I should have recognized.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!

St. Patty’s Day is a well-known holiday throughout the United States, Great Britain, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Montserrat. The holiday celebrates the Catholic feast day, which began in the early 1600’s. The holiday was named after Saint Patrick, which was kidnapped by Irish raiders and was taken into Ireland as a slave. Once in Ireland he fled and said that God told him to return to Britain. After he was back in Britain he joined a church and became a priest. A little later in his life he was called back to Ireland to save the Irish, and while there he became a bishop. The clover that we often associate with St. Patrick’s day originally was a three-lead shamrock which represented the Holy trinity to the Irish people. Commonly we think of the color green when thinking about St. Patty’s Day.

The color that used to be associated with Saint Patrick was blue, but over time the color green seemed to appear on everything associated to St. Patrick’s Day. There were green shamrocks and ribbons that were worn by many starting in the 17th century. This holiday is always celebrated on March 17th and it signifies the one-day break of Lent, and for this reason it is often celebrated with alcohol. The drinking of green beer, wearing green and having parties all occur on St. Patrick’s day, and many often just think of it as a celebration of the Irish. The holiday was officially started in 1903 in Ireland.

Journal #3 - Good Argument?!?

Arguments are very common in my house, as almost every time I ask for something it winds up turning into me needing to prove to my parents why I believe what I believe and why I think it is right. The most recent argument has been about me going to visit one of my friends that lives in Sacramento, CA over summer break. I have been slowly trying to ease the idea of me traveling alone to them, and it seems as though I did a reasonable job at that. Before making my argument I had to think of all the things I know they would be worried about that would deter them from letting me go on the trip and I had to think of solutions to each of the problems so I would show that I have good evidence that I have thought this trip out and am not just simply making it up as I am talking to them.

I also had to think about the reasons I think I should be able to go, to tell them those also. In my argument I told them I feel I should be able to go because I have shown them I am respectful and responsible and that I make wise choices, I also have been getting good grades and first semester I got four A’s and only one B in my classes which shows I am doing well and trying hard in school. Also I said I would be paying for part of the trip myself and I would be staying with my friend while I was in California to cut back on extra unneeded expenses. All of these reasons are truthful and practical.

Having told my parents all these options I made a good argument, and they noticed I had thought about it before actually coming to them. Knowing this my parents discussed the trip and decided that I would most likely be able to go as long as I plan it in advance and not at the last minutes. Needless to say I became very excited and began looking up flights to book my trip. Had I not had a reasonable argument with proof of why I should be able to go though my parents most likely would have been more on the edge about letting me actually go. With an argument such as this I clearly had a bias going into the argument, which made me more apt to tell them all the reasons I should be able to go as opposed to why I shouldn’t be able to go.

Spring Break!!!!!

I don’t know about you, but I know this week has seemed like one of the most stressful weeks of college yet this far. It seems as though the teachers have given a great amount of homework, tests and group projects, which are all due this week before Spring Break. I was thinking about this and wondering whether I was actually happy about this or whether I was upset about the fact that everything have piled up into one week of chaos. Tonight I had my long dose of chemistry. I went from chemistry lab in which I had a midterm, then had to perform an experiment by myself and write the actual lab report in class to a chemistry lecture exam, then to the chemistry lecture class. It was a pretty hectic day, but I am happy to say I made it through it and I am hoping I did well on my tests. I feel pretty good about them, but we’ll see when the grades actually come out as to the outcome. Needless to say I am super excited that Spring break is coming up this next week. I most likely will be doing a lot of studying and relaxing, although I am not traveling anywhere. The time off of school will be good for me to catch up on all the things I have been wanting to get done but haven’t been able to because of school. I wish everyone in class a great week and good luck to anyone else that has test, projects or quizzes this week! Also I hope everyone has a relaxing, safe and fun time over Spring Break!

~La Clase De Español~

I currently am taking Spanish 202 here at the U of A and I have really been enjoying it. My teacher this semester is awesome and she makes class always fun and interesting. I have this class four times a week so that definitely says something. My 201 class here was one of my least favorite classes. It is so interesting that having a great teacher can definitely make the class so great and that having a bad teacher can just make the class terrible. Throughout high school I also took Spanish all four years and I am now debating whether I want to make Spanish my minor. In reality after looking up a Spanish minor, it doesn’t seem too difficult for me to obtain. I was planning to take classes throughout college in Spanish anyway so I would be able to keep up with it. To enroll in the next level Spanish class here I would need to declare Spanish as my minor and they are already beginning the process of having people sign up for the 251 class currently. Having such a great experience this semester with Spanish I think I definitely want to go on. Also I believe that Spanish will be really helpful for my future. When applying for jobs and other programs it will definitely be an asset to have. In my intended career as a doctor I feel this will be a necessary skill since so many people in Arizona speak Spanish. Knowing this I will need to go declare my Spanish minor this week so I can therefore register into my Spanish 251 Spanish class!

Family Visits...A good or bad thing?

While often having the family staying with you at your house can be great fun it can also at times be very stressful…As you may remember I still live at home and my mom’s brother and his wife have been staying with us at our house since December 3rd. Luckily for us we have a guest house attached to our house, so it is much more comfortable for them and us for them to stay there. We still eat and visit with them though everyday that they have been here. While I am very happy to see them so often it is also very weird having someone else at our house all the time. I really enjoy spending time with my family, so I enjoy them being here…but having been over two months now it is time for a little break. They are leaving on Monday morning to start their very long, cold and not so fun drive back to Illinois. They have really enjoyed the weather here and I am sure once they get back to all the snow and cold they will soon want to come back for another long visit. Since they are leaving so soon, on Saturday morning I cooked breakfast for the family. Since my mom’s side of the family is Swedish I made homemade Swedish pancakes, and they were quite delicious if I do say so myself! Since they have been here I have made them a couple times and I am starting to get even better at making them now. We also went out for gelato tonight, at a place called Frost in town. It is always good and we all enjoyed that sweet treat! It has been a fun trip for both them and us, and there is already talk of them coming again next winter so it will be nice to have a little break and then to see them again!

*New Movie - Valentine's Day!*

First off, Happy Valentine’s Day class! I know it seems like people either love or hate this holiday...but I just went and saw the new movie Valentine’s Day tonight! I really enjoyed the movie, and it is the perfect date movie. That is if you enjoy chick-flick type movies or romantic comedies. This movie has many big name actors and actresses in it, and they make this movie one definitely in my opinion worth seeing. Some of the actors/actresses that were in this movie were Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba, Bradley Cooper, George Lopez, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Taylor Swift, and Taylor Lautner among others. Without giving too much away I think it can be assumed that this like many other romantic comedies ends in a very predicted way. Valentine’s Day does however have some interesting parts that I didn’t expect in it. Basically this movie is about a bunch of different relationships and their endings that is set in Los Angeles. It is like a twisted love story and some of the love stories connect. This movie definitely plays on the idea of cute romance and “tugging at peoples heartstrings”. The theater was generally made up of mostly women of all ages, and a couple of men that were taken to this movie on dates. I would recommend this movie to a mostly woman audience simply because it doesn’t involve much action, it is comical in many scenes that pertain to women and it is a true romantic comedy film. If this movie however doesn’t seem interesting enough to you, some other possible movie choices for Valentine’s Day are Pretty Woman, The Notebook, Dear John, Sleepless in Seattle or Love Actually.

Clubs in College?!?

I don’t know about you but for much of my life I have been a part of different types of clubs and organizations. Schools, parents and teachers often find that students involved in more clubs and organizations tend to do better in school and therefore they tend to be heavily promoted. In high school I was in the science club, National honor society, Model UN, Key Club and the interact club. It kept me very busy and I had a club just about every day, but I really enjoyed meeting all the people and learning new things from these clubs. Since I have been in college I have realized how clubs can pretty much be made based on any interest you may have. Here at the University of Arizona there are clubs for all interests imaginable. There are clubs for many of the majors offered on campus. From sororities and fraternities, religious clubs, the bowling club, astronomy club, Hawaii club and even the Elevation ski and snowboarding club there is something interesting for everyone. I am currently involved in the American Medical Students Association, Blue Chip and the Physiology club. They are all very fun and helpful because they relate to my major and allow me to meet with people that have very similar interests as myself. With all these clubs offered there’s sure to be a club that interests you! I would highly recommend getting into something that you enjoy to meet people like you and to have fun. Also clubs can help you connect with the community, for community service and for future job opportunities.

Did You Ever Notice These Icons on the Dollar Bill?!?!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/15-things-you-never-noticed-on-a-dollar-575113/

I was trying to think of an interesting post for this week’s blog. As I was checking my e-mail on yahoo this article came up and struck me as very interesting. This article outlines all the many symbols on the dollar bill that we never even notice. I find it so fascinating that something we use daily and look at all the time has so many interesting symbols. A couple of the symbols I had previously known about but many were new to me. I especially found that people noticed the small owl or spider in the corner near the one out of the ordinary. I personally think it looks more like a spider than an owl…but I guess everyone might see it differently.

I also never noticed that in the owls talons there is olive branches on one side and arrows on the other to signify war and peace two words that are used almost daily in the news. All the Latin messages are very inspirational and it’s hard for me to believe that there was so much thought put into the images on the dollar bill by people in 1782. I also was never sure how much it cost to make a dollar bill but it is interesting to know that it only costs 6.4 cents per dollar produced. It is so odd to know that there are so many things in life we use all the time and yet we know nothing about. From now on I am going to try to be more aware of things I use all the time that may have other symbols. With that being said… I should go look up the hidden meanings on all my coins...

Movie Analysis

I chose to analyze the movie “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days” starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. Both Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are famous in many movies therefore making people want to see the movie even before they know anything about it. There are many different lenses of rhetorical analysis that apply to this movie; but the one I feel is the most important is gender. The cast of the film is all women except for Matthew McConaughey, and the main theme is mistakes women make in dating situations. The genre of the film is that it is a classic “chick-flick” type of movie that is geared specifically toward women. It like all other "chick-flick" movies is very formulaic and predictable, yet so many women still like to see it.

The movie focuses on a woman that is trying to win over a guy she wants to date in 10 days as a project for Cosmo, the magazine company she works for. There are many themes throughout the movie. The themes all which pertain to women which is most likely what makes the movie so comedic for the women watching it. Some themes throughout the movie are dating, love, fashion, and the magazine Cosmo. The movie also is very stereotypical of women in that it assumes all women are really emotional and easily become attached to men. It also assumes all the different mistakes women make in relationships.

Pathos is one of the rhetorical strategies that most applies to this movie. There is a lot of emotional appeal throughout the movie to try to intrigue the audience to want to see more. Generally when trying to persuade an audience of all women pathos can be very effective because it has been proven that women think of things very analytically.

Overall this movie was effective at targeting the audience and gender of women that like romantic comedies. Other audiences would most likely not find this movie very interesting or entertaining.

Oh the Joy of Facebook!

As I sat down to think about what I my post for the week could be about I kept drawing a blank. Of course when I am stuck in situations like these I resort to getting on Facebook to see what is going on in the world of my friends. If I am ever bored the first thing I automatically go to is my computer because facebook is bound to entertain me somehow. Facebook always seems to have something interesting and fun to read and it is a great way to stay in touch with so many people. Without facebook I am not sure how I would keep up with all my high school friends. My friend and I were just discussing the other day about how little we would know about the people we graduated with had it not been for facebook. We also wondered how our parents stayed in contact with people before social networking and realized that they really didn’t. Without it I would not know very much about the people I met in high school and am now meeting in college. While it has its many benefits for those reasons it is what also contributes to my procrastination of assignments. I don’t know about you but I can spend hours on facebook without even realizing it. Hours just seem to fly by and I realize I have just been staring at a computer screen reading about my friends, taking dumb yet fun quizzes, and playing the many various game applications. Sadly it has almost become an addiction for me and I check it at least once a day (but generally much more often than that). If you are in the class and don’t have a facebook kudos to you, I would recommend never getting one because it is very distracting and it may become something you will want to check every day.

Journal #1: All About Me

As I sat down to think about all the things that make me who I am, I realized how hard it truly is to describe myself in only a couple paragraphs. As Dr. Seuss once said “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” I believe that everyone should be themselves and I am a very honest and open person. Some words that can be used to describe me are responsible, leader, independent, practical, loyal, and caring. I am a very self-motivated person that always strives to do my best.

I am an oldest child in my family, and I have many traits of an older child. I have one brother that is 16 years old, and I am currently 18. I am slightly younger than many other people that are freshman in college right now, as I just turned 18 in November. I have three dogs: one lab, and two pug/shihtzu mixes which I love to spend time with. I attended Canyon Del Oro high school in Tucson, AZ. I was born in Tucson, Arizona and I have lived here all my life. I greatly enjoy Tucson; however California is my dream location to live in the future.

I not a very daring person but I do enjoy many outdoor activities. Running and biking both are very enjoyable to me, I just don’t seem to be able to fit these activities into my schedule as often as I would like to. I also really enjoy spending time with my friends and family, whether it be just relaxing, playing board/card games, or watching a funny movie. My favorite board game is Monopoly and my favorite card game is Apples to Apples. My favorite types of movies are comedies. In my spare time I love cooking, baking, and trying new recipes. I also like traveling, and visiting new places; especially locations with beaches. I have never been on a cruise before, so I am hoping to soon experience that.

For much of my life I have known I really want to become a specialty doctor. Currently I am not 100% positive what type of specialist I want to be, and I am hoping to realize what type of doctor fits my interests best once I enter into medical school. Currently my major at the University of Arizona is pre-physiology. I am still in search of the medical school I would like to attend, but I will most likely attend a school either in California or Tucson. My favorite subjects in school have always been science and math which also makes medicine a great career choice for me. In high school I had two internships: one was shadowing an immunologist and another was shadowing a pharmacist. Both internships confirmed the fact that medicine really is the career field that interests me the most. At the University of Arizona I am currently involved in three clubs: the American Medical Students Association, Blue Chip, and the Physiology Club. I really enjoy meeting new people and learning more about my prospective career options from being in these clubs.