"Some people find this moment,the moment before creativity begins to be so painful that they simply cannot deal with it" - Twyla Tharp

        I knew a little bit of what this book was going to be about since we talked about it a little in class, but I didn't really realize how much I would connect with it and understand where she is coming from.
      Ever since I was little I danced, but once my favorite dance teacher had passed away I sort of lost touch with it, and I quit. Ever since that day I have been doing cheerleading. Its not a sport in anybody's eyes but its something that takes a lot of hard work and creativity. That was the first thing that came to my mind when I read the first chapter of this book. 12 years of my life played through my mind, and all the things I have learned from it. Unless you actually experience or are a part of a team you don't really know what its like to do cheerleading. We to have a choreographer. She works with us for a short period of time, but works with herself longer. She doesn't only choreograph my team, but a couple other teams to. None of her dances are ever the same. She gives it her own flavor and what she knows each team is capable of doing. Every year at competitions we get such great scores because she always comes up with unique moves that you wouldn't really see. She puts our whole routine together, from the dance, cheer to stunting and tumbling. I believe that we rely on her more than our coaches at some point because she is the center of our learning. Just like the dancers rely on their choreographer to teach them because without them they would be lost. You don't have to be special or go to school to be creative or to be a choreographer. our cheerleading choreographer is used to everything she does, and every year she gets better and better. I believe that when you have a passion for something you are better at it than someone who doesn't care to much for it. It is like that withe everything, singing, instruments, school work, sports etc.
       One of the points I like that she makes is in chapter 2 about rituals. she talks about how she does the same thing everyday and its not what she does thats a ritual, its actually getting up and doing it. She feels confident in herself because she knows that she can depend on what she does and herself if anything in her life fails. she believes that rituals prepare us and give us confidence and I agree. If you do something everyday you will only get better at it, not worse. That will boost up your self esteem ad make you want to do more activities.  yes, you will fail at things, and nothing will ever be perfect but you shouldn't not do something because of fear because then you'll always that "what if" feelings and what could have been.

Video Project 2: Creativity

Since this was the second video project we had to do, I was a little more prepared and actually had a clue about what to do. I kind of did it similar to the last one except with different information since it was a different topic. I'm actually not to sure if I did the project the right way, but my topic was the first thing that came to mind when I read the assignment so thats what I did. I think one of my weaknesses is that I put to many words on the slides. I didn't know how else to express what I had to say so by making multiple slides with explanations I got my point across.  In my opinion, I think that this project did turn out well, but there are certain things that could have been changed and added.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9WOF1TfoaU&feature=youtu.be

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection - Michelangelo

This habit I have isn't really that good, but when I way around I don't really look at my surroundings or the people around me. So with that it was kind of hard to find a sculpture/picture around campus. I only stay in one building pretty much all day besides the student center.  But as I was walking out the Engelmann today, I saw a picture on the wall. It didn't have an artist but then i saw plenty of other pictures  just like it, except with different words.  All of these pictures were in the philosophy/english department of the 2nd floor. I think where this picture is placed shows a big part on what it means. Its a bunch of similar but different words that are clumped together. Theres big words, small words, red words, yellow words. Some are sideways, some are bold, some are longer than others. So this shows that they re all different, but used for the same reason. (in my opinion) Some of the words in the picture are really commonly used words, but others are not. I think because this picture is hung near the english department that it shows that everybody's writings and beliefs are going to be different even though we all learn the same things when we are in college. When people look at this picture of words, they will probably all have different interpretations because we are all different.

Always Room for Improvement

Most of the stress is over.... but now there is other stress piling on for the rest of the semester, and for the up coming spring semester. I only had three midterms out of five of my classes. I didn't do as well as I hoped but my grades are what was normal for me and what I should have expected. On banner, I only have three of my grades posted so far and they are three C+'s and a B+. For the first two months of school I guess I can deal with those grades but surprisingly with the type of person I am, I did have higher standards for myself and thought that I was actually on the right track and doing better than normal. I don't think my grades reflect my work, and I felt the same way all throughout high school. I always did what I had to do, on time and filled all the criteria. I know college is drastically different than high school, but you always carry your habits from one to another. Its obvious that some things weren't working in high school, so I should change them now, before I get to comfortable and mess up because thats what I don't want to do! Getting these grades now makes me nervous because I have to keep a 3.0 GPA and a B average in order to get into the program of what I want to major in. I do believe now though that the first semester is almost over, I'm used to the way college is, and how all my classes will work. So as all my old teachers and my parents would tell me, theres always room for improvement. I can still change my grades and they can get better. I think if I keep doing what I'm doing now with 10x more effort, then I will be ok. and whatever happens happens because only I can control my future.

Campus Safari #16

I've realized with a lot of these campus safari's the SCSU website is very helpful. This week I decided to look at Career Services. I didn't know where that was located on campus so I went to the website. The whole point of career services is to help you find a major, and to know what your interested in. They think that its not about who you know, or what you know, its both and they are the "who part". They also show you the "what" and introduce you to many different things that you could pursue. You can meet with somebody one-on-one or you can just walk in in-between the hours on monday-thursday.

  Another important part of this service is to make sure that you stay in contact with people groups and organizations to develop job opportunities in your field. Any question that you have can basically be answered by going on the website. 

http://www.southernct.edu/careerservices/

Take A Break, and Relax

Sometimes for me, school in general, work and everything else that comes with life is stressful. Midterm time just adds more stress! It really sounds so stupid, but I decided to take a walk around campus. It has been so nice out lately that I decided it would be perfect. I put in my headphones and just walked around. I listened to music that I enjoy, which is mainly country and it just clears my mind of all the stressful things that are coming my way. This also sounds stupid but sometimes listening to certain songs makes me think of other things, so I did do some thinking on my walk. I enjoy taking walks ever since I was little. I used to go on one everyday with my grandma so I guess you could say thats why I enjoy them so much. While walking, I never really realized how big the campus really is. Since I only stay in one little area all ay 5 days a week, I got to see new scenery and other buildings. I like to do things alone, because I feel like if your with other people then nothing will really get accomplished. Most people would probably do this assignment with their friends or actually do something on campus. but this kind of thing just describes the kind of person I am. I like to be alone more often than not. You get to really know yourself and see what is good/not good for yourself.  I guess you could say this walk was much needed, and I might do it again because I enjoyed it.

Better Yourself, Make Changes

We have been in school for almost two months or so, and I feel as if I'm managing my time and study habits very well. I sometimes feel as if I'm doing 10x better in college than I ever did in my 4 years of high school, which is kind of shocking. So far I have only had one midterm, and another one approaching on wednesday & thursday. I can't say I did as well as I hoped, but I did do fairly well so I am proud of myself, I must say. Every class has its own level of difficulty which means different material etc. The one thing I know I can do 100000x better is study more. Yes I get my work done when it should be but I don't spend that extra time looking over notes, reading extra, and asking questions. A good majority of my goals have been reached because so far, I haven't failed anything, been lost, or not caught up on anything. I always seem to get ahead of the game with my classes which is what I hoped and wanted to do. The second half of the semester I plan on picking classes that i'm actually interested in and want to be in because most of my classes now I don't even want to show up, just being honest. I get all of my work done and get good grades which is a plus. The one thing I know I will plan to do always throughout my four years(+) is time management because that is the key to success in my eyes. If you know what your doing and how to manage your time and do things when they should get done then you will always have free time to do what you like, and something stress free. I went into college with a sort of negative attitude, but after i experienced a good amount of time my whole outlooked has changed. So with that, I believe that next semester the whole tone will be different and hopefully more progress will get done!

Campus Safari #8

Since we've been talking about advisors and majors in class, I decided to do this weeks campus safari on how to get an advisor in your major. Coming into college I already knew what I wanted to major in, and hopefully it doesn't change. I chose Communication disorders and I do plan on sticking with it. The office is located in Davis hall. I didn't get a chance to go over there, but all the e-mails I receive tell me how to get an advisor.  I get the impression that freshmen don't get an advisor just yet because they haven't gotten into the program, but they are more than welcome to go into the office and talk to somebody. But, freshmen can sign up to make an appointment by October 18th. It also says that if you have not met the requirements (3.0 gpa in CMD classes, and an accumulative gpa, then you must go to wintergreen for advising. To get more information, i decided to go on SCSU's website, and go to the communication disorders webpage.http://www.southernct.edu/communicationdisorders/
    It told me who the professors were, and who I could contact if I had any questions. It actually gave me a lot of information and I'm really happy that I decided to check it out. Hopefully i'll get a chance to head down to Davis and actually talk to somebody.



Dr Deborah Weiss (undergraduate advisor; weissd1@southernct.edu 203-392-6615
^ thats who I would contact if i had any questions about my major.

Be Uncomfortable

I am probably one of the most shy, not outspoken, quiet kids you will ever meet.... well thats how I am at first. But once you get to know me, and I'm comfortable with you I am the complete opposite. I don't have a problem with that except that sometimes its hard to make friends. I have to say that I have had the same group of friend since about 6th grade, but in high school my whole grade got along very well so we were all good friends. But coming into college was a whole new experience. Yes I did come here with my best friend, and a few others but she went her separate way and I guess I did to, so that caused me to make other friends. I became closer with other people, and actually started talking to new people. Coming to college was basically coming out of my comfort zone. I don't really do much out of the ordinary. I do a lot of the same things everyday. I can honestly say without getting ashamed that I don't talk in any of my classes which is probably obvious in our INQ class, but in high school I talked non stop in class. My teachers were like my friends and I can actually be myself in class. But not all my professors are like that and you have to be serious. So I guess coming out of my comfort zone would be making new friends, because I have. Maybe not as many or as fast as other people but I have. I don't like change so this was hard. Another thing is that I never open up and i just keep everything to myself. But I have a really good friend that makes that easy for me. She lets me talk to her whenever I need to and she gives me great advice. I've been having some friend trouble and she told me to just talk to her, and let her know how I feel, so thats exactly what I did.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston Churchill

A lot of people fear failure, and for that reason exactly, is why they don't try new things. In a way that is how I am. I don't like to do bad at things so sometimes i don't try them and see what new things are like. But in life, you wont get anywhere if you don't try new things. You need to fail in life. Failure teaches you so many lessons. And after you do fail, just get back up and try it again. If you have goals, you need to reach them but that process isn't going to be easy. Something along the way will go wrong and you will reach bumps in the road but thats all part of life. Its all normal. Its ok to fail. I'm sure we've all had experiences of failure but that is what makes us who we are and our outlook on school and life now. I know that when I fail at something I kind of shut down for a little and I don't try my hardest. But then I realize what I want and what is best for me and I try again. No matter how many times you try, in the end you will be successful even if it takes 10 times to get that one thing right. Also when your trying new things there will ALWAYS be different ways to do them. So don't just listen to one person on how to do things, get advice from other people and have them teach you different ways to get things done. Some may or may not be easier than others. There is plenty of examples of people in the world who have failed and got back up and tried again, and now they are so famous and good at what they do. For example, sports players, musicians, singers. Yeah, they may have natural born talent but they still had to work at where they are today. In my opinion, when you fail you have to change your mindset to do better. Think positive cause it isn't the end when something goes wrong.

Things Change, Think Different

 After reading the first three chapters of Mindset, and listening to the class discussion. I Do agree with what the author has to say. I connected to it a lot because I've been taking psychology since sophomore year of high school , and in a way it connects to what psychologist believe in.  This theory is similar to nature vs nurture, which is how the environment around us affects our thinking vs our genes and what we are made up to me. We have two different mindsets, growth and fixed. One will change, and one is what we always believed in. In the world around us we are always facing new situations and learning different things, so some of what we know is going to change and we are going to have a different "mindset" on that certain topic. Our fixed mindset is never going to change. in my opinion, its what we were grown up believing and what our parents believe in. I do think though that our fixed mindset can change. Yes, we may believe in certain things but I do believe that it can change. If we are taught something for so long (10,000 hours theory) then we may start to believe it. It may not happen to everybody but I think that it can happen. With that theory they say if you practice at something it will get better and you will become successful at it and an expert. I feel like there is always room for peoples minds to grow and you can't be stuck on one specific thing. If you are, then you will never experience life and all that it has to come with. This can go with motivation because different things motivate all of us and if we have an open mind then we can change our views, and become successful and whatever it is we want to do.

Video Project & Reflection

Well, this is the first video project I have ever done. It wasn't that difficult for me because I am really good with technology, but to use iMovie I did go see one of my old high school teachers so he could help me. When we were first assigned this project I had bigger expectation and better ideas to use for the video. But as the week went on, none of those ideas were actually done. I don't think I managed my time as well as i could have, but still think I did a good job. For my first video I am very impressed and happy with the way it came out. I learned a lot about myself, and everyone else with what they had to say. I think my topic (making decisions) is a good one for a first year student because we are all faced with different types of situations where one choice can lead to another

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVFokNqf_b8&feature=youtu.be