Thursday, April 28, 2016

Dress Codes in High School

I gave my speech today on dress codes in high school and I feel like I nailed it. My professor (who shall remain nameless) felt that dress codes should be kept the way they are and my speech was on how they should be modified to be more lenient because if you think about it, how is wearing a tank top, in any way considered inappropriate? Not just in a sexual way but for school? You're going to school to learn, why is it such a big deal if you wear a tank top? Nobody should even be paying attention to that in the the first place because once again, you are there to learn. And here's something: why is it that there is a dress code in high school, but not in college? At some point, you are the same age that you are in high school that you are in college. So the argument that "your not mature enough" is 100% invalid.
And there's also the reason that "its distracting". If a student is distracted by the fact that they see another student wearing a tank top so badly to the point where they cannot focus on their school work, that is their fault. If they weren't raised in a family where they are taught to respect other people and their bodies by not obsessively staring at them then that is their own fault. The student wearing some "distracting" shouldn't be the one punished for it because its their body, so too bad for someone who doesn't have enough will power to keep their eyes to themselves.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Ready for summer

I know that I am going to be working a lot, but I'm just excited to do something different. I'm excited for nice running weather because this right now is still a little cold for me to train for a marathon in and I despise running on treadmills so the nicer and hotter it is outside the better for me. I know that my boyfriend and I are going to be going to his Uncle's lake house in Michigan a lot too. His uncle's love us for whatever reason (or at least it seems like it) and they always have something fun going on up there. They have a boat and live right on Lake Paw Paw so every fourth of July since we have been dating we go up there and watch fire works on their boat. They live right next to a little bridge and its the perfect spot to set off fireworks and its super close so it always looks awesome. His cousins usually come with and they always act crazy which of course makes everyone laugh. Its just such a fun time when we're there. The only thing this year is that now I have Heidi (my guinea pig) and I'm almost positive they won't want her there so my Dad is going to have to watch her, but he loves her almost as much as I do so I'm not worried. The only thing is that he pets her really hard, I don't think that he realizes how fragile she is and I don't think he realizes how strong he is compared to her.
Oh well, either way this summer is going to be fun.

Final Portfolio

I was pretty nervous about doing the final portfolio. I was kind of figuring that I would have a super hard time doing it and that I would screw something up or miss something somehow but I was able to  finish the whole thing in about 2 hours which was nothing, I have the pages off on the side, all of my essays are embedded into their own separate page, everything is typed out and finished. I thought I would have waited until the day before it was due but then I kind of realized that if I don't do it now when I am still in school and if I have a question or a problem with something it would be much easier to ask the professor about it in person rather than in an email where I know for sure I would have gotten something confused and then I would have missed points and I would have felt like an idiot for not being able to complete something simple.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

The movie Jumper/Super Powers

I think the idea of having some sort or super power is pretty awesome, but I'm sure everyone would agree. In the movie Jumper this kid is born with this ability to teleport to different places in the world and all he has to do is visualize it. If I could have any super power in the world, I would have to pick the most ridiculously common one, flight. I think being able to fly would be so cool. Having super speed would be a close #2. I think that we're all so attracted to the idea of having some sort of super power is because we all want to be different. We all want to be our own individual person and we all want to stand out. Having a superpower would definitely stand out. Even though there is literally no proof that any of that is real or could even happen, it's still a really neat idea to hang onto.

Rant Session

So I'm back to using my old piece of crap phone which likes to restart itself every time I lock the screen so that's always a blast. My shoulder to my elbow hurts pretty bad and has been for the past month and I'm not sure what it is and I don't want to go to the doctor for it because the insurance doesn't cover all of it so I end up paying for the part that it doesn't cover and I barely make enough money to get gas and $5 every week and a half for vegetables for my guinea pig, AND I still have to pay $100 from when I got an ultrasound to determine that I have multiple cysts in my chest and upper rib cage. My dad has been asking me all these dumb questions which I know that I have answered multiple times before, like "when do you have school". I have had the same exact schedule for about 4 months now and for some odd reason "Tuesdays and Thursdays" can't seem to find a permanent spot in his brain. And on top of all of that my boyfriend asks me if I want to go with him directly after he gets off work to go pick up a cap for his truck and that I need to be ready because its an hour away. So I completely rush through my dinner and do everyone's dishes just for him to say that his dad is now going to go with. Okay thanks for telling me that before I ran around my house like a maniac trying to make sure that I will be on time for him because of how much he stressed that I need to be ready just for him to cancel on me. And now, when I'm trying to relax and just lay with Heidi (my guinea pig) in my bed, what does she do? Shit all over the place. Ya know, why not?
Probably just overreacting but whatever, one annoying thing on top of another on top of another makes for an irritation filled day.
It's actually pretty funny because if you scroll down, one of my blogs is "why I hate people who complain." And here I am blogging one giant complaint.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Computers & Technology

It's kind of amazing how far we have come with technology. When I was a kid I can remember playing this silly little game on my grandma's computer and back then that game was the most advanced part of her computer. I used to be so good with computers and technology, not that I am not anymore, but there are so many new things to learn about on your devices now that its insane. I would still say that I know more than anybody in my family and my boyfriends family but I don't understand why they change it so much. The other day I was in the library on campus trying to register for my classes and I couldn't figure out if it went through or not so I went to the IT Guy and he helped me with it. During this process, the wifi was really slow and he was able to access something on my computer that I didn't even know existed, switched to a different wifi, and explain to me how the new registering system worked. All within the time that I was still trying to comprehend how he (A) went to a completely different wifi network and (B) was able to do it on my computer without a problem.

Cracked My phone screen

So yesterday I washed my Guinea Pig's blankets in my Dad's washer (which he doesn't want me to do but I do it anyway) and I didn't have enough time to put them in the dryer because I had to leave to come to school so I figured  I would dry them there. So I'm carrying this big bag of all of her blankets and my phone and my keys and my purse and I drop my phone right outside of my car. Now the screen already had a small crack in it before I dropped it so I was full anticipating on the crack growing if not turning into something much worse, which is what it did. I can no longer see my phone screen because of the pressure (I'm assuming) on the screen from it being cracked so I'm back to using my old Galaxy s3 until I can conjure up enough money to buy a "refurbished" phone online that isn't $600. I guess I'm just disappointed that it cracked because Androids are sort of known for not cracking and mine did. I have never met anyone with an Android that had a cracked screen so I'm pretty upset.
I was needing a new phone anyway, this one's keyboard would type random words and it was super annoying. Not that that is any reason to go out and completely get a new phone because I wasn't planning on getting rid of it until it was completely trashed but still.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

What do you love? What do you want to do?

I love helping people. I love making people's day and helping them feel better and cheering them up. I love making people laugh because I know how much laughing for just 30 seconds can completely change your mood. I think the reason I want to go into criminal justice is because I want to help. I want to help make people feel safe, and I want to protect. I have always been a protective person of anyone that is involved in my life. I want to be that person that saves the day, whether its making you laugh when you were just in a fight with someone you care about, or saving someone's life in a critical situation. 
I also love animals. Those that abuse animals or do not give them the proper care are scum to me. No matter who you are, if I find out that you are not giving your animal the proper care and love that they deserve then you can fully expect that I will never talk to you again. Domesticated animals are basically helpless when it comes to abuse. They don't know why you are screaming at them or kicking them. All they know is that they did something and now they are being overly punished. Dogs don't know why you fight them against other dogs for money. You have taught them to be aggressive and because of your idiotic actions that dog is withstanding pain and can possibly die. 
I love lots of things, and I think the things I love and how protective I am over them really shapes me as a person and has greatly helped me figure out what I want to do with my life; protect. 

Pulic Speaking

I am a pretty outgoing person, I don't feel uncomfortable approaching people that I don't know or asking questions to a professor/teacher in front of a bunch of other people. You would think that based off of my personality that I would be a pretty confident public speaker but sadly I am not. I get nervous no matter how prepared I am and no matter how comfortable I am with the class I am speaking in front of. I think that it relates back to when I was younger, back when I was scared to even ask the teacher to go to the bathroom. I know that I am still not like that and I will never again be like that, but I think that that scared little person is still in me. That was my personality from the time that I can remember to my sophomore year in high school when I finally came out of my shell. I never get nervous when it comes to talking to large groups of people in a comfortable setting, but as soon as the setting turns professional I am uncomfortable. I don't exactly know how to break that nervousness but I am trying. I gave a group speech today that came exactly to 20 minutes and there were 5 of us. The majority of the people that are in the class that we presented in front of are very friendly, and I talk to the most of them but somehow I was still nervous.

Monday, April 11, 2016

The Office

Even though it ended a while ago, the show is still hilarious. I think this is the first time that I have fully watched all of the seasons. All of the characters are so relatable to everyone that I know in my life or have met before. Its so funny how you think that majority of the characters are idiots but then all of a sudden they will do something that means so much. Some really good life lessons come out of this show, I think the main themes of the show are comedy obviously, and even though you wouldn't think of it, but love. The office isn't just an office but a place where love happened. I feel like after I watched the show I felt different. I thought that the show was absolutely hysterical with all of the ridiculous stuff the main characters did and their reactions to the crazy crap that everyone did.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Animals and their connection with humans

Animals and humans can connect on far deeper levels than we think. The idea of a pet is as simple as it sounds, its a pet. It's quite simple; you own an animal and care for it regularly, the animal eventually passes away and the owner moves on. But I don't agree with that. I think in the time that the animal is in your care, you form a deep bond. Even though you cannot verbally connect with the animal, you bond in other ways, through love and happiness especially (or at least through my experience). The dog that I have now started out as the families dog. Then the kids started to grow up and the dog turned into my dads dog. But when my parents were divorced and my dad moved out of the house, my dog didn't exactly have someone in specific to direct all of his attention to. So now, 2 years later I would consider Boone my dog. I am the one who walks him, bathes him, feeds him, grooms him and everything else imaginable. From taking over the position that my dad once held, I formed the bond with Boone. Boone is a relatively calm dog, he will be 10 on May 10th and the majority of his day he spends it napping or sun bathing. He never barks when a stranger comes over like a lot of dogs, and he has never once been aggressive with any of us kids. But when I come home from school or from work, he goes nuts. He stands in the window and cries because he knows my car, and as soon as I walk in through the garage door he flies down the stairs and is licking my face and wagging his tail so hard that he smacks himself in the face. I will sit with him for about 10 minutes after I get home and he will try his best to snuggle in my lap but always fails (he's about 80lbs). This happiness that he displays when he is with me is something that you will not see if he is with anyone else. I believe that he has bonded with me (I would be his "master") and this bond has been formed by trust, happiness, and love. He knows that I will always care for him and I will always come home to see him and walk him. Boone is my best bud and I love him as much as I love my family and my boyfriend. To me, he is much more than just a "pet". With him, that term goes much deep than the simple and plain idea.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Deciding to be a Criminal Justice major

I'm almost 100% sure that I will declare as a criminal justice in the fall. I'm not really sure what made me want to do criminal justice but I just think it's so awesome. I mean, I know there's more to criminal justice that is going to be the exact opposite of awesome but I want to be that person that saves lives and catches the person that everyone hates. I think just the idea of being in that field is something that attracts me.

Student Union at Lewis

I personally feel that the student union could be changed a lot if not completely. The space now is just a random space that doesn't seem like it has a specific purpose. There are way too many couches that look disgusting and every time I am in there they are not being used. The same way with all of the tables with chairs. There are 5-7 tables there for students to work on homework assignments or just hang out but those never get used because students do it on the couch. The floor is the original floor from when this building was first built and it looks like it, it is completely scuffed up and there are imperfections and blemishes everywhere. I feel that it doesn't have an "aura" to it, so people don't exactly know what to use it for. Is it a place to hang out with friends? Or is it more of a library scene? The room would be used much more if there was a specific purpose for it because then people would be much more comfortable using it. They should transform this are into something more interactive than the library, but more low-key than the den. Students should feel comfortable enough to go there and do homework and hang out with friends. A coffee bar would be a good idea, and I also think that it should be open 24 hour, the library closes at midnight and the majority of the students that I know that live here do their homework later than that, and if they need a printer and don't have one in their room and are too busy to get to the library during the day, they could just go to the student union and feel 100% comfortable doing their homework there.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Why I hate people who complain

I dont really understand why people complain, if there is something wrong with you or in your life then why don't you fix it? But instead your sitting there complaining about whatever the minuscule problem is that you have going on. Stop complaining and go fix it, you can't just keep waiting around for someone to come and fix your dumb little problem, you have to fix it yourself. People who do that are so weak and disgusting to me. Pick yourself up and get it done, because by doing nothing you are not getting anywhere with yourself.

My Research Question

My topic for this informative essay is Human Trafficking. My question is how does this keep happening in the world and why hasn't bigger precautions been taken to avoid it? I picked this question because the answer is going to be the thing my essay revolves around. The types of experts I will need for this essay will be people who work in the field of human rights and criminal justice. In order to answer this question I need to learn how we can stop it. And in order to stop it we of course need to know how it is happening. Its so scary to think that there is someone in this world right now being stalked so they can be stolen away from their lives and families. Its also pretty messed up that there is someone out there who is considering kidnapping someone just to make a profit when they could just go get a real job like a normal person. I think this topic is something that isn't talked about very often and many people over look it when they shouldn't. An average of 1 million people are trafficked every year but all you hear on the news is about how someone was shot but didn't die and will still be able to see their family again.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

End of the Semester Thoughts

As the semester comes to an end, I would say that I am happy with where I am academically. For the most part I am really on top of all of my assignments. The blogs are something that I haven't really kept up on mainly because I didn't know what we could write on and what would be considered an appropriate topic to blog about. I am excited to take finals and am curious to know what our final assignment is going to be in this class. This essay that we are working on now is going to be a good one (I hope) because my topic is something that I can find so much information on and is very intriguing to me so I am pretty confident that this paper is going to be one of my better ones. I just figured out what I am going to do today (human trafficking) and I am already thinking of all the ideas I can include in the essays and the main points I will hit on. Since this is such a serious thing that is going on in our world I am hopeful that I can find some really good sources with maybe some well known people.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Design Plan vs. Final Draft/process of WP#2

From the beginning, I felt confident in my essay and subject. Body language is something that has always caught my eye. Psychology and subjects related to it are things that interest me so nonverbal communication was something that I had heard of before and was just interesting to me, so I was fairly sure that my essay would turn out pretty well. The outline was easy, I figured out what I would do quickly because its just the body that is being covered and what different signs mean and how different things can affect you. My sources were really good also, I used the founder of the idea of body language and a social psychologist who also did a TED talk, in her TED talk she discussed the advantages of power posing and how it was something she had taken up when she first started school, along with the idea of "fake it until you make it". Her TED talk was very inspiring so I felt that she would be a good source. As I wrote my essay and organized more and more of it, I began to look further into the topic and discovered more about it that I hadn't originally known which was a nice little benefit. I felt that the process of writing my essay went smoothly and am pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Reflection on Essay

At the beginning I wrote my essay right away and had it almost completely done, then through out the rest of the time that we have been working on it I have been adding in parts and tweaking it. The format that it has to be is slightly confusing and I am still working on the abstract. My sources could be improved on and more incorporated into different parts but so far my essay is coming along great.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Explanatory Synthesis Notes

My first source explains how he discovered the science of body language and the types of ideas he formed about body language. I felt that this would be considered a credible source because where do you start with something when you want to explain all of it? The beginning. His different ideas felt important to me because it is useful to know where it all began and how his ideas and conceptions changed over time as more and more people became interested in the idea of body language.

My second source was very useful because there was more information on the types of studies she held and more information on what she did and does specifically compared to the first source, who is quite a bit older than her. Her ideas were more personal because she related them back to her own life as a beginner college student who was just in a terrible car accident leaving her with severe head trauma and doctors that didn't ever think that she would be able to get to where she is now. The phrase that she lived by in her beginning years as a college student were "fake it until you make it". This quote was very important to her and it can be very relatable. It is something that many people can do. The other things that she discussed were how to make yourself more confident by making your body physically bigger (stretching out, hands on hips, not crouched). I tried doing this myself and it worked, I felt more confident and less stressed out, and it only took two minutes.

Both of my sources are very valuable to me because there are multiple spots in my essay where I can insert their information or cite them. They are very successful people who have a lot under their belt therefore I believe that their information is valid and should be taken in to consideration.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Explaining My Interests

My main interest is my Guinea Pig. I have had her since November and I love her very much. I am always finding new things for her to play with and new things to do for her. I like to take care of people and especially animals and knowing that when I go home every day she will be there for me to take care of her. Watching out for people and animals is something that I've always done, I have had a bird since I was six years old and have been taking care of him up until two years ago when I had to put him down because of an illness. Those two years that I didn't have my bird to take care of were very boring to me, I felt like I was missing something in my life and it was a pet. When I got Heidi (my guinea pig) the whole in my heart was instantly filled. I have had nothing but good experiences with her. I have never had a Guinea Pig before and knew nothing about them so when I fist got her I had a lot to learn. I love learning about things that I am interested in. I know now more about Guinea Pigs now than I ever have before. All the different types of fruits & vegetables that they can eat are something that I like to learn about, how to properly care for them, types of bedding, and so much more. There are many things that a person can learn about a subject but it is so much more interesting and fun when it is about something that you love. When I got Heidi, I started out with regular shredded wood shavings. They were relatively costly and I was determined to find a different way of bedding for her. I eventually learned about the fleece bedding method. You take a sheet of fleece, fit it to the size of their cage and then put some sort of absorbent layer under that. I purchased 3 yards of fleece for 40 cents on amazon and found old towels in my home for the absorbent lay underneath and have been using those since I've had her. I love fleece, it is very neat looking and the shredded bedding was not, it is such a money saver and I would recommend it to anyone with a Guinea Pig. 

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Thoughts on Peers Reviewing our Essays

I personally didn't benefit from the peer reviews. I felt that a lot of the things the people said were things that I did right or the things that I already knew that I had to fix. I wish we would have had more time to work with the professor because he knows what to look for compared to the students that are in his class. Would have preferred to have a full day to work on our essays with the professor in the room with us able to answer any of the questions that we have but to a certain extent of course. I also think that a better example on what we should have done for a design plan should have been available considering that myself and other students I know have never done a design plan before. Overall I think that my essay is fairly good with few corrections that need to be taken care of and I think that those who looked over my essay saw the same things that I did.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Symbolism of Clothing

Clothing is symbolic for hiding who we are. When we wear clothes, we are covering ourselves so that the only people that know that we look like underneath is the ones we choose to show our body to. As people, we typically aren't ourselves when we first meet someone. We don't show our true personalities to people that we are introduced to until we feel completely comfortable with them. Slowly as the friendship/relationship progresses, we begin to let out true selves out, letting them see what type of person we really are. Clothing is the same way, when we first meet someone, you aren't going to feel comfortable with them unclothed so therefore you wear clothing. As your relationship moves on, you become more comfortable with others and aren't self conscious about your body anymore. 
To hide your true personality when you meet someone new or someone that you are not fully comfortable with is natural. It would seem that not being yourself is like a defense mechanism. You are still in the process of figuring out if the person you just met is worth putting your best face on for, leading to not being your true self. How does one know who exactly they truly? We are around other people for such a large part of our day, how do we really know who we are if we're constantly hiding ourselves from the world? When are we really ourselves? Getting to know who you are is a big part of how your life goes, and I think that it is important to know who you really are before you make a life commitment to someone. Knowing who you are helps shape your life, and if you're just pretending to act like someone that you're not in order to impress someone, what is the point?

What does it mean when I say that you are the key to your own success?
Success is earned by you. When it comes to your own success, you are the key. There is no one in this world who wants to be successful at the goal that you are aiming at as much as you, there is no one in this world that will be as upset as you when you don't hit your goal. If you feel like nobody is there for you, or you don't have anybody to guide you in your decision making or the things that you do in life, that you don't have any support to help you get through the day, good. Because the people that are most successful in this world are the ones that realize that their fate sits on THEIR shoulders, not anyone else's. When you come to this conclusion, you are going to be way more successful than you ever would have thought. That cliche phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" in all of life seems to be true, especially when you're in it alone. Realizing that nobody is going to help you and that you have to figure out out by yourself is the best thing, because once this thought hits you, you open up your mind to so many different ideas. You can do anything, you don't need someone sitting behind you to catch you if you fall. And if you do fall, you get back up, shake it off and keep going. It is only going to make you want it more. 

Success is like running a marathon. You start out by the idea of what you want to be successful at, forming your plans around that idea, trying to jump start a plan to get yourself moving towards that goal. So you prepare for it, you run every day before the marathon, every day adding one more mile to your run so by the time the race rolls around, you are running an average of 25.2 miles a day, and that very next day you will hit your goal of being able to run 26.2 miles. You are the one that pushes yourself to get up every day, and run. You are the one that keeps nagging yourself to never give up, that soon enough, that day will come that you will finally reach your goal. Just like a marathon, success isn't something that you can jump into unprepared. Preparation and acting on that preparation is 100% of the battle. 

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

What I learned today

Today, I learned that when writing something, you have to figure out your audience first before you decide what type of writing style you are going to use. If you are writing about how you're mad about something, you have to figure out what you mad about and who is going to fix this problem that you have. One of the examples that was in the book was cigarette companies targeting teens and the poor. You can't write to them because that isn't going to make much of a difference, you have to write to somebody who is going to do something about it, like advertisement companies. The genre for that would be argumentative, if you were to write to teens and the poor, it would be informative because you are trying to help them see what is going on around them specifically. I also learned that after you figured out who you are writing to and your genre, you have to consider your voice. Your attitude and tone of the essay play a big role on whether or not you want people to be persuaded by what you're writing about.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

What are our responsibilities to each other when we blog?

Our responsibilities to each other when we blog are to respond and communicate back with each other. Someone posts something on a blog because it is something they care about or are interested in, it is our responsibility as the viewer to respond to the blogger. Tell them what you think about what they said, how you feel, etc. They are putting their opinion out there not because a blog is a diary, but a way to voice your opinion through the cyber-world. To put your opinion out there is something that takes guts, you speak about your opinion knowing that there is someone out there that will disagree with you, be 100% on your side, and other views on the subject.

Blogging is something that is also very useful to viewers. Whether it's on how to train a puppy to how to do a smokey eye with eye shadow, its something out there to view and learn from. The internet isn't and shouldn't be just used for Facebook or Twitter, it's something that stores so much information that you don't know who will find it useful.

Blogging is something that I personally have never really cared for or payed much attention to, just because if I have a question or a concern on something there are a million other resources that you could use before you go to a blog, which is what  I typically do. Now that I am being introduced to it, I am starting to see the usefulness of it and how the viewers are all affected differently. If I wanted to share my feelings or views on something, I would just talk to someone about it, I would never write it down because I feel best way to express your emotion is to say it to someone else in person. You really can't tell how much emotion a person is putting into words typed on a computer.