School

My semester has been going pretty well to be honest. I've gotten the classes I wanted at pretty optimal times. My earliest class is 9:30 am to 10:45 am while my latest class is 11:00 am to 1 pm so my schedule allows me to have a lot of free time and flexibility with homework. Also, homework hasn't been all too hard or overbearing. A lot of times in high school, I'd get stacked with massive amounts of homework all due on one day, whereas in college, all my homework is due on the specific days that I have that class so I can plan accordingly with that. The homework itself isn't hard either. Rather, its well explained and time consuming, but its not hard to figure out. One thing I don't enjoy about this semester is the endless amounts of lectures that I've been getting in my classes. I get that lectures are needed to teach the material but it would be an enormous help to do some hands on learning or something to spice it up.

I've had quite a lot of challenges this semester. The small challenges like learning to wake up for school wasn't all too bad, whereas the big mind numbing challenges were hard to deal with. I've dealt with the stomach flu and wasn't able to come to school for a week or two. My aunt died last month and it kind of shook me up for a while. I had to go to the valley for her funeral and I wasn't able to concentrate for a while, so doing homework and coming to class was a challenge for a couple weeks. I've missed a couple of classes and assignments and now I'm trying to stabilize in what ways I can.

The ultimate pay-off for going through this is learning what I need to in order to get enough credits to transfer to UCSD or UCLA. I wasn't good enough to get there straight from high school but I will be good enough when I finish my years at community college, I am certain of it.

I've always had a problem with motivating myself to do well in school. When I was younger, I would get bribed to do well. “Get straight A's and we'll get you a toy” or “Do well so we can reward you at the end of the year” were the phrases that existed throughout the beginning of my school years. Inevitably, the rewards became nil and I became less and less motivated. Things have changed recently however. I saw how useless I was when I was unmotivated and looking back at it I hated it. I want to be a better me in any way that I can, and the only way I know how to change me is through the process of school, so I'd gladly adhere to it. Also, I have this need to beat my siblings. My brother is a technician at BMW and my sister is a nurse at CMH, so I want to go to school, get a job and make more than them. Its a bit selfish, but eh. A little sibling rivalry never hurt anyone.

Reality Television

Television has really lost its appeal in the past couple years, at least for me. Not only has the plot of many shows have become bland, but the actors have been lacking too. To my dismay, reality TV has filled the ranks of most television networks with all of them having variations of their own reality TV shows.

With the influx of outrageous TV shows such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” the amount of good television shows has been extremely diluted. These shows give out such a negative perception to the viewing audience. It creates the perception that living high and mighty like they do in “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” is okay and that getting pregnant at 16 rewards you with a television show. Younger audiences are most affected by this. Most of the younger generations who watch television like to mimic what they see on TV, and I would not want to see how they'd be if they watched shows like that.

Despite all the hate on reality television, there are good reality TV shows. Although there aren't many, they still exist. Shows like “The Biggest Loser” and “Masterchef” are fairly good reality television shows that show good intentions and good moral values. I need not to mention the success stories from “The Biggest Loser“ since they speak for themselves. “Masterchef” however, has shown me that there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel I call reality television. In one of the seasons, Gordon Ramsay allows a blind woman, Christine Ha, to compete in the competition and in one instance, she second guesses her apple pie. When Gordon Ramsay notices this, he not only assures her that her apple pie is beautiful and near perfect, but to believe in herself and her cooking. Christine Ha then goes on to win the whole competition. Watching that really gave me hope that reality television could be okay, even good if given the right people.

Personally, I grew up with shows like “Mythbusters” and “Dirty Jobs.” These shows, although they were considered reality TV, were interesting and worth watching because it was teaching something. They were shows that taught me cool scientific things. It also taught me life lessons like if I wanted to go anywhere, I'd have to be willing to get down and dirty and do the hard work. All in all, reality television in general is really the worst, but there are a few diamonds in the rough if one is willing to look for it.

Change for the Better

A person's attitude and opinion of ideas are always subject to change. Sometimes its a gradual change, but other times its a swift change that can happen in an instant. Throughout my life I've seen many opinions and attitudes change, many of them my own. The most recent attitude change was sort of a biggie.

 

In my senior year of high school, I started out very happy and jolly. I was captain of Emanon at the time and I felt that nothing could go wrong, until I found out that I was unable to get into the AP classes that I wanted to be in. Looking back however, it was kind of a long shot since I struggled in AP English and AP US history. Since I was unable to get into AP physics I grew kind of sad and it showed in my studies and in particular, my health. Normally, when I'd be sick I would be able to recover in a matter of days, but that sickness was something different. Not only was the AP thing weighing on me, but also being unable to be there for my team and letting down my parents would push me further into a hole of darkness. I'd be bedridden for days on end and I just wouldn't ever feel better. I consulted a doctor and they said it was at first just my asthma and allergies flaring up but it lasted much too long for that. It got to the point where I was hospitalized because the doctor said I had appendicitis and I needed to got to the Emergency Room to get it checked. Fortunately for me, I didn't have appendicitis, but I had an abnormality in my blood test which needed to get followed up on. Alas, it wasn't anything bad and I was cleared to go through my day.

While the sickness was going on, I was marked as truant at school. Yes, I was sick, but the office at my school stopped accepting my notes because of the frequency of the notes. It sucked because I had to go through the whole process of going through court and paying a fine and everything.

Even with all the sickness and truancy, I still managed to get through the year with fairly decent grades. I kept up with my studies where I could and I learned everything by myself. Slowly but surely I was pulling myself out of the hole of sadness that I fell into in the beginning of the school year. I didn't really feel my attitude change until my sister pointed it out to me a couple days ago. While my family was just joking around at the dinner table, she goes to me and tells me that my demeanor has changed from a year ago. I'm not as sickly as before, I'm going to school when I can, and I'm actually enjoying it. My attitude has taken a complete 180 degree turn and I'm really glad it did.