The Jump Off

I came to college full of excitement and enthusiasm for the new year to begin. A completely fresh start and no parents, what more could I ask for? Well after the initial shock set in I realized this wouldn't be a walk in the park. Everyone says college is so hard and I believed them of course but I wasn't prepared for this at all. In a way I don’t think anything could have prepared me for this. My sister went to college in California when I was 8 but she never told me much about what to expect. She warned me of dangers and my mother emphasized the importance of my studies but in the end there was nothing they could do.  It was all up to me to take my education into my own hands and I didn't do as well as I planned. I’m just getting by in some cases where I should be excelling, story of my life. But what they don’t tell you about college is reinvention is right around the corner. A month from now I’ll be starting all new classes with a fresh slate and a better grasp on the difficulty of college and the effort needed to succeed. A new year is just what I need so just like the other 6 billion people in the world who hope for a better year than the last I’m going to set out a list of my new year’s resolutions. Not only so I can reach my potential but also so I can get what I’m paying for here at southern.

First I want to buckle down and set rules for myself. Discipline is not a word I am familiar with so maybe adding that to my vocabulary will let me become a better person in all aspects of my life. I've never been one for studying but I know it’s a tool I need to start utilizing if I want to actually graduate. In Twyla Tharp’s book we talked about a box and where you should start while organizing your ideas. Well doing my homework at one in the morning the night before it due not only reduces the quality of my box but limits what I’ll have at my disposal to put inside of the box.

For my second resolution I need to dig deep and find the will to say no. No to going out every night, no to spending money on frivolous things, no to staying up all night, no to skipping class, no to those people whose approval I seek so dearly, people who could potentially drag me down with their extracurricular that are less than savory.  I could go on for days about those people but dwelling in the negative side of my life is something I would also like to say no to.

On the other side of saying no I’d like to start being a friend a friend would like to have. Yes studies are important and definitely my number one here at southern, but I can’t neglect the people who got me here. The friends who support me and my family are the people I need to start saying yes, and more importantly “thank you”, to.

Now this one might see silly but I couldn't be more serious. I need to learn how to spell. If I didn't have an iPhone my friends wouldn't even be able to read what I text them. For example, deffinatly, yes that is seriously how I spell definitely. It took me three tries to even have the correct word show up in the spell check. As embarrassing as it is I need to take care of the little things.

I wish I did this earlier but regret is a useless emotion so all I can do is learn from my mistakes and move forward with a fresh perspective on what this whole “college” thing is about.  

Final Assignment Reflection

Given many questions to answer I took a while to think about how I would organize these ideas without sounding choppy and dry. I could easily write pages answering the questions but as we were told not to do that I'm going to sit it out as a past present and future reflection. I'm worried that it might still sound too disjointed so I know I want to avoid that. not quite sure how I'll do that yet. I'm the kind of person that has to just jump in so I've decided to simply start writing it piece by piece and then revise it a few times. another concern is that I'll sound like I'm making excuses in the beginning. I planned on citing my high school education as a reason for my lazy nature but I don't want to fall into a pit of blaming things for my own faults. I've always hated people who make excuses and I don't want to be portrayed as a spoiled brat who is just complaining about a lacking educational system. In some ways I do blame them but I don't want to use that as a crutch. I want to write about the current semester and how I wish I did better but while staying away from the term "regret". I don't believe in regret and a lot of this class taught me about not regretting mistakes but learning from them as best I can. Learning is the point of all of this after all. I want to also touch on my plans for the future. I am staying for next semester and having learned the ropes of southern I now have a lot more resources to utilize  I'll touch on my experiences at the library and disability services center and how they assuaged my worry. Over all my biggest worry is the flow of the entire writing but that's a bridge I dont want to worry about crossing just yet.

video project #3

I finally did a video. I'm quit impressed with myself. I do regret not doing the other projects because now I see how easy it is. I wish I did the other ones so I would have more experience and know how to make a better video by now. I sort of hindered myself on this one because I didn't let myself get to my highest potential. I'm not disappointed by any means just sad that I could have done so much better with experience and that way my grade wouldn't be where it is. Instead of using problems you can solve easily I asked my friends what their real problems were that had solutions that were usually self remedied. most of the time the answer was to adapt. adapting is something no one told me I had to do when I got here. They told me how to do my laundry and things like that but no one said I just had to buckle down and get over it when in most cases that's the only answer.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ilgDXvQNg&feature=youtu.be