My interest

Something that interest me is music. I am a big music fan. I love all types of music from hip hop to even some rock songs. Whatever song has a good beat then you will hear my singing to it. I believe that readers will like this topic because just about everyone loves music. Alot of people say that they can't live without their ipods and their music. But what about music makes people feel this way? Is it the fact that music blocks them from the outside world so they can focus on whatever they are doing? Or is it just because they like listening to music? No one knows the answer because everyone will have different opinions to why they love music so much.

Another topic that interest me is people's relationship with their signifanct others. I think that's one of my interest because i'm a nosy person and i like to know what's going on with everyone. But i also like to give people advise because i see alot of people crying around school when they talk about their relationship problems. I never like to see people crying over a boy or even a girl because i think that everyone should be able to have a healthy relationship. I feel like students are interested in this because they want to know how to keep a reltionship good.

One last interest that i have is food. I love food. I love all different types of food. From culture to culture i like to try it. I believe that it's one of the reasons i like to take different langueges because i like to see what kind of food each culture makes. I love cooking for myself and others as well. I know alot of students like food because we are always eating. Students would be able to talk about the different foods they like as well as what they don't like.

Personal Fitness

This week i had taken a trip to the fitness center wich is located in the student center. I haven't been to the fitness center in about a month because i had a lot of work to do and i never had time to work out. But this week i was free of work so i had time. The hours of the fitness center are Monday- Thursday 7am -10pm, Friday 7am-8pm , Saturday 9:30am-4:30pm and Sunday 2pm-7pm. The usual cost for a membership is $60 per semester but since it's the middle of the semester it only cost $35 to join. During the next week, i would like to take a yoga class and a zumba class. Unfortunately, i didn't find out what time those classes started but i will find out on Monday. The gym has everything from cardiovascular machines, weight training machines, plate loaded machines and free weights.

Midterm grades

My midterm grades aren't where they could be. I felt like they would all be in the "B" range except for Anthropology because the teacher told me i had an "A" which was shocking. It's shocking because i have no idea what the teacher is talking about and i zone out every time she starts talking. In my other classess except for one ( cause i haven't recieved a grade for it yet) I felt like i could have done alot better. In my algebra class i know how to do all the work , but i guess when it comes to the test i forget some information. So if i just make sure that i study longer than i was , i can pass the class with a B by the end of the semester. It's the same way for INQ class. I could of done better if i did the campus safaris but to be honest , i didn't know they were mandatory to do. So aslong as i do those as well as the regular blogs i shouldn't have a problem passing this class. My economics class was the only class that was killing me so i had to drop it. I wanted to get a tutor but when i went to the tutor center in Engleman that told me they don't have tutors for that subject . So instead of bringing my GPA down i had to take a "W" ( withdrawl).

By the end of the semester i plan to have all my grades up to a B and higher so i can set standards for next semester. I also plan to make sure i study longer so I'm able to remember the material for the test. With determination i should be able to put this plan in affet.

Midterm video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCEsXaLhjUo

My comfort zone

One thing about me is that i'm a very stubborn person. If i get into an argument with someone . i will NOT be the first person to speak after it all blows over. Regardless if i'm wrong or not , i believe that it is that persons responsibility to speak to me first or we will just not talk at all. Just two weeks ago me and my father got into a disagreement on the phone and he made me mad so i hung up. I guess he felt angry or mad so we stopped talking and he took the money that he gave me out of the bank account that he set up for me. Now usually i'm used to my father doing things like that so i didnt really care because i have 2 other banks accounts. But the thing about my father is that he is just as stubborn as me. Usually if we ever get into an argument he is usually the first person to come talk to me first. But this time things were different. I was talking to my mother and she told me that i should atleast try to communicate with my father and tell him that i'm sorry. One thing i dont do and dont ever think i will ever be able to do is tell someone i'm sorry. I told her she was crazy and she just laughed. But after i felt like i should atleast see how he was doing. SO.....i took the initiative for the first time to text my father to see what he was up to. I felt like apart of being responsible is taking responsibility for your wrong actions and owning up to them. I never said sorry to my father but we are on some type of cool level with eachother. Most times i dont feel comfortable talking with my dad just because he is th type of person who doesnt want to hear it if its not what he wants to hear. But somethings i will just have to deal with.

Alegebra?

I would say that algebra is one of the easiest math classes to take. When i was in high school finding out what 9x+10 equals was easy. But when i started algebra in the beginning of the semester it was kind of hard to understand it when my professor didn’t really speak English that well. My professor's name is Dr. Vitaly Drucker. His office is in En C-210 but when i came for extra help i went into the room that he teacher in which is in Jennings room 227. His office hours are 30 minutes before class which starts at 10:10 or after class which ends at 11:00. I came around 9:30 and had him help me understand the chapters because while in class he talks to fast with his accent. But while meeting with him he helped me understand how to find the slope of a line on the graph and of a quadratic formula because even in high school i never understood how to do that. He also informed me on what to study for my midterm that i had recently taken. After meeting with my professor i had a better understanding of how to do most of the problems that he gives us for homework and for test.

Time management

I have very bad time management skills when it comes to completing a task or project. With this video i spent about 2 HOURS each day brainstorming what i wanted to do for the project. It was getting hard because some of my ideas weren’t what i needed for the project and some ideas that i had didn’t add up to my skills with movie maker. I spent about an HOUR interviewing people. I could have spent more time interviewing people if i had some professors to interview but most of my professors said they were unavailable. I spent 3 HOURS gathering information from Google and yahoo. And to transfer materials to my computer only took about 20 MINUTES. I haven’t started editing the video yet but I can PERDICT that over the weekend it will take about 2 HOURS if i do it in one day. But maybe about AN HOUR each day.

Overall i feel like i have used my time wisely but i felt like i could have done a better job at it. I feel like i could of already been done with the video but i had other things like midterms and papers that affected the amount of time i spent on the video. I feel like when I first heard about the project i should have started it right then and there because it would be less work that i have to do near the due date. But being me when i hear about something that is due a while from now, i begin to get side tracked and put it to the side until a closer date comes. But usually when that happens, it motivates me to make sure that i get the project done but also make sure it looks good. I will usually put all of my time into it when I’m under a certain time limit.

Problems in My Project

Some troubles that i have encountered while doing this video project is that for 1) I can't figure out which questions i want to ask people. I know that the main question that is asked is " what is critical thinking" and what does it mean to you. But i need to branch off of those topics and think of other questions to ask. Another problem with my questions is that i don't want to have people say the same answer to different questions. But if they do i will have to find a way to get around that answer and find one the is near a good response to the question asked. 2) I find it hard to find professors who will take time to let me interview them. Most of my professors only have office hours 30 minutes prior to class and are only open if you need help with work. And my other professors are only open to emailing questions to them. I asked my roommate and she gave me a professor who i can ask but i need to find out his name and when he is available around the time i am available. I have enough underclassman to interview but i need to find some upperclassman. I know a few sophomores but no one who is a junior or senior. 3) And my last problem that i need to fix is making sure that all of the video clips are at the same volume and that they are all clear. I know that some people use different devices to record like an iPod, camera or laptop. I will use my digital camera which has a low video volume and my laptop. I will have to figure out by goggling some videos how to make them all the same volume without making them too loud. Most of these problems will be fixed by the end of this week so all I have to worry about is putting it all together and uploading it by next week.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking can have many different definitions. It is all about what you as a person believes it means and how you can use it to your advantage. I believe that critical thinking is when you are able to analyze a problem or question and then use your own type of thinking process to figure it out and solve it. As well as coming up with new questions and answers. “Critical thinking is perceived as a valuable skill , or set of skills, lacking in large numbers of students from grade school to university"(Frank 92). This quote from the novel To Think means that it is a beneficial skill to be able to think critically and is necessary for life. According to the article "Critical Thinking: The Nature of Critical and Creative Thought, Part II”, it states that in order to have the creative act , you must be able to form new assumptions by forming new questions. And by asking new questions and making new inferences, a person's point of view emerges in a new direction. I believe that the art of asking questions is a good thing. Just like the saying that “There is never a dumb question". This can pertain to critical thinking because the mind is feeding off of the questions that someone is asking and is then making an individual think of more in depth answer. What makes critical thinking such a good skill is because everybody has their own way of interpreting a question. Not everyone is going to come up with the same answer or idea and not everyone is going to agree.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Works Cited:

 Smith , Frank , 1928- “To think” Published by Teachers College Press , 1234 Amsterdam Avenue

Elder, Linda, and Richard Paul. "Critical Thinking: The Nature of Critical and Creative Thought, Part II." Journal of Developmental Education 30.3 (2007): 36-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.

Stressed and Overwhelmed

Stress comes in all different types of ways. You can be stressed and not even know that you are. It may just be over small stuff like the fact that you have an Anthropology paper due and you have no idea how to start it or put it together. Or the facts that you are taking microeconomics and you have to read 2 long chapters and hope you understand the material so you can get a good grade on your next test. It may not seem like a big deal but to some people in their minds it is. The best way for me to relieve my stress is to just listen to music. I turn my iPod up loud and then i just zone out and think about what I’m going to do. If i don't feel like sitting in one place, i will take a walk. Walking with your music in your ears so you can block out the world is the best feeling ever. It's just you and your music and nobody else to distract you. Another way to relieve your stress is to just sleep. I LOVE sleeping. Sleeping gets me through the day. Whenever i have a lot to think about i just sleep everything away. When i wake up , i have a fresh mind set. Everything will get done when i wake up from a nap. I think it’s very important for someone to relieve their stress. When people have built up stress, they begin to break down and fall apart. I don’t ever feel like I should need to be stressed out about something. Especially when you are in college. I feel that it is the number one reason to why students drop out because they can’t handle the overload of work as well as other things that go on in daily life.

Feeling sick?

In college it is really easy to catch someone's cold. If your roommate is sick there is a possibility that you will become sick too. Being healthy is the best thing to do while in college because of the different viruses going around that your body is not used to. Eating right is one good way that you are able to stay healthy. Eating pizza and burgers all the time is never good. Try throwing in a salad with every meal or instead of having fried chicken or chicken tenders, try the grilled chicken that they have. Another way to stay healthy is to make sure that you stay in shape. If getting a membership at the fitness center is too much then you can always walk around campus for at least an hour a day. An important thing to remember when staying healthy is to make sure you get enough sleep. If you are constantly tired and never get any sleep then you will start to feel sluggish and your body will never have enough energy to work out. If you should feel like you are starting to get sick, make sure you dress appropriately. You shouldn't be wearing short sleeve shirts if it is starting to get cold. You should also drink warm liquids like soup, hot chocolate and tea. If those don't work then you should go see the nurse in the health center. I know when i start to feel like i am getting sick , i make sure i get a lot of rest so that i won't have to miss my classes. I also make sure i take medicine in the night around a decent time so that when i wake up i don't feel drowsy and light headed from sleeping. Getting sick is natural but it’s always about how you take care of yourself that determines how long you will have that virsus.