chomp chomp [chomp]

As I type this I am sitting next to my friend PJ. We're watching a movie and he's eating cool ranch Doritos. He has known me for three years now and he knows that one thing I hate the most is when people chew loud. Since he discovered that this was my pet peeve he has found it funny to chew loudly and he now enjoys watching me cringe from the sound. I don’t know why this bothers me so much. Maybe it’s because when I was younger my mom use to lay next to me in bed and chomp away on her crisp salad. Maybe its because I was forced to sit across the dinner table from my father as he talked to the family with a mouth full of food. Whatever it is the sound of chewing creeps me out. Of course one can not always help the crisp crunchiness of all foods such as celery. I would just highly prefer that it not be eaten around me. Now this isn’t an easy request to follow, if someone asked me not to eat in the same room as them for that reason I’d probably laugh in their face. For that purpose I have learned to cope with my problem and just hope that there are other distractions in the room to keep my ears from hearing that repulsive noise. I’ve caught myself at restaurants many of times wanting to jump across the room at someone who so rudely is chewing their food with their mouth open. Food is great but I don’t need to see it or hear it slapping around in someone else’s mouth. Now as I sit here listening to the Doritos being eaten I think I will help myself to some. Remember chew with your mouth closed kids!

INQ Project

This is the intro to my project. The next step is recording myself explaining what exactly a negotiator is. Then recording something like a law and order part of an episode type of thing. I know it's not a lot of footage yet but i'm getting there! Any feedback will be great :)



WATCH ME

love basketball & leadership

Leadership. This is a term that my father has taught his five children to strive for and a definition that he has demonstrated. Growing up and still today my dad has taken over the Overlook Sports Association and turned it into a place where kids can get away from all their problems and just play baseball. A couple of years ago my dad was running the Police Academy League of Basketball and was coaching girls youth age 10u. He realized with working and keeping up with winter baseball training for his other teams that it was just too much. He asked me if I’d take over the girl’s basketball team for him and with all of the hard work he does I couldn’t say no. My dad coached me when I was younger and I had gone to a couple of practices with his new team so I was pretty confident in running the practice without him. I have coached the girls for two years now. I believe even though they are young I’ve taught them teamwork and dedication. Whenever they’ve lost a game they respectfully shake the other teams hand. I’ve never felt so responsible over anything before. Those girls mean so much to me and its crazy to see how much they’ve learned and how many bad habits they’ve dropped. I’m sad to say that now that I’m in college and don’t have my car I can’t coach them this year so as of right now there is no team. Being able to teach younger girls coordination, respect and responsibility means a lot to me and to the parents of the girls I coached. Next year when I have my car I hope I can get the same group of girls back together but if not I know that I have left a little bit of me in all of them. 

Marissa and our situation

   “Make new friends but keep the old one is silver and the other is gold.”

 This semester I’ve overcome many different obstacles but there is one situation I found particularly challenging. In January of 2009 I became really close with a girl who I had been in school with for 2 years at the time. I invited her to my 17^th birthday party and ever since that day we became inseparable.  She didn’t have her license or a car so whenever I needed a friend to tag along with me she was always there. When I was upset about anything or mad at my parents I would just drive to her house and watch endless episodes of Law and Order SVU. People began to look at Marissa and I as more than just friends; they looked at us as sisters and knew that if I was going somewhere that she would be right beside me. When she got accepted into Uconn and I didn’t, we knew that at the end of the summer we would be saying goodbye. The time came for that day and when it arrived come to my surprise it wasn’t as sad as I thought it was going to be. This is because we knew deep down we would never lose touch, we’d call everyday and see each other as much as we could. The first week of school, Marissa and I talked religiously every day. She told me that she felt like this school was just too big and she wasn’t making that many friends. This is mainly because we come from a very small school where everyone knows everyone and its very easy to meet and associate with people. Hearing this news from Marissa broke my heart. I knew it was only the first week but I never thought Marissa, the friendliest and nicest person I know would have the problem of making friends. On the other hand, I wasn’t so sure that I belonged where I was either. I wasn’t missing home but I was missing my friends. After a week of keeping to myself, a week of being shy and reserved I decided I needed to put myself out there. I refused to sit in my dorm room and I nervously put myself out there.  Marissa and I stopped talking every single day. We learned through our on strengths and weaknesses that its ok to make new friends because no one person could replace our friendship. For me the biggest obstacle this semester was leaving my old friends and putting my trust in other people to make new ones. I’ll never let go of my old friends as a matter of fact i'm sitting with Marissa right now as I write this blog. I’m happy to have opened up and made new friends.

                                           

Grade Inflation

After class on Tuesday I heard many different perspectives on the subject of grade inflation. Even though both the arguments have valid points I am still sticking to my grounds. Grade inflation is wrong. Students should work for the grades they earn. If teachers raise their grade then it is not the grade they earned. If teachers make a syllabus at the beginning of the year then they should stick to it no questions asked. I know a lot of students that work hard to keep an A. They follow the syllabus to the T and make sure every ounce of effort they have is put into the class. Then there are students who still put in effort just not as much and grade inflation helps them to wind up with the same grade? How is that even remotely right? It’s not.
One of my fellow classmates Shelby talked about how she was terrible at math. She failed a lot of the tests but still tried hard. Shelby went to the teacher after school and made sure he knew she was trying. By the end of the quarter he wound up raising her grade from a 40 to an 80. That is not fair for the people who worked for the B.
It is understandable that teachers want to help their students have a better future. Life is hard and the economy is terrible. Teachers are supposed to be preparing there students for the real world and by raising there grade that is just not helping.

home sweet home

I know people are finding all different places to study. For me the coolest and best place is my dorm. My roomate and I haven't really been getting along lately so she spends most of her time out of the room. This is when I use my time to study. I can leave my tv or radio on, which she doesnt like. I'm much better at studying when theres more distractions which some people may find odd. When the room is completely silent is when I normally can't concentrate. My mind just goes off into another world and I start thinking about things that are completely irrelevant instead of my homework that is due the next day. My dorm to me is just like my room at home, where i've spent the past 10 years of my life studying and achieving good grades. I know most are coming up with creative places to study but for me this is where I find peace. In my dorm. Also I'm not forced to sit at a desk, I can lay on my bed relaxed on my comfy pillows without and disturbance. Also, my room is much more convenient  if i had some last minute studying to do, such as between classes. Overall I study best when i'm comfortable and get better grades when I have distractions around me. Therefore my dorm is the perfect place to study and i will continue to use this as a resource for this and next semester.

Present, Past and Future.

A class that I feel most intellectualy stimulated in is psychology. Psychology is my major but I never thought I would be this interested in a class. I look up to my Professor as a role model and I like how he always has a different perspective on certain things. When we have discussions in class he tells us that we most likely will never have this conversation again. He says it's sad that people don't talk about things that are most important like why we are the way we are and what makes us react to things the way we do. When he speaks I understand him and that must be the reason I feel so intellectually stimulated. Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. I've always been good at reading people. I don't judge but I find it fascinating to try to know a person before I actually do. It's almost like a game. In Professor Fontaines class he did a very interesting exercise that made me feel different. I can't explain the feeling I had and maybe it was because I connected his lesson to my life but the feeling was indescribable. He did an exercise that showed how you get to your futue but the present is always with you and one day you'll look back and your present will also be your past. A lot of students didn't understand this concept but to me it was as clear as day. I never thought about it like that, your present is always with you. I am the present.