Halloween Traditions

So last night was Mischief Night. I was driving home around 11 p.m. expecting to see toilet paper and silly string galore.  And to my dismay I saw none of that. I saw maybe one or two strands of toilet paper hanging from trees, but that was it. Maybe it was too cold out for the young pranksters. Maybe since it was a school night no body could go out. Or maybe I just drove through the wrong streets and all the toilet paper and silly string were a block over. Either way it disappointed me a but, but it also got me thinking about my youth. How things have changed from back then to now in general.  And then I started to ponder on my own youthful antics and pranks.

One of my favorite Halloween/ Mischief night memories was when I was in elementary school. There was a park right down the street from my house that use to get toilet papered and silly stringed every year. My whole family use to go down there and partake in the festivities with our own supply of toilet paper and silly string. We had a lot of fun and bonded as a family. My parents use to say if they yelled hide, we were to hide because a cop was coming.

I remember one year we had to hide. We were in the middle of decorating the park. Running around and giggling like maniacs. Then we heard my father yell “DUCK!” and we all hid. My brothers and sisters took cover behind slides and trees but I was stuck in the middle of an open field. So I instinctively jumped to the ground and laid absolutely still. When the cop shined his light over the park, it just missed me. It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

We weren’t juveniles and my parents weren’t “bad parents”. They took us out so we could have good, clean fun and not damage any property and not get into trouble. The police don’t care if kids are out on Mischief Night with a parent because they know that most parents are responsible and won’t let their children damage any property or hurt anyone. Our parents taught my siblings and I how to have fun and be festive in a respective way. We never egged houses or smashed pumpkins because it was disruptive and costly.

Nowadays kids are egging houses, smashing pumpkins, putting bologna or coke on cars, smashing mailboxes or car windows. Just a bunch of destructive juveniles running around like the laws don’t apply that night and it’s a free for all. It’s a shame that now cops patrol the streets on Mischief Night like their expecting a riot because that’s what it’s basically turned in to.

I want my readers to take a minute and think about their favorite Halloween/Mischief memory. Was it a costume that you absolutely loved? Going to a haunted house that scared the living daylights out of you? Maybe it was the Halloween that you ate so much candy that you were up all night with a stomach ache and you had to miss school the next day. Take a minute to think about your favorite childhood memories and relive your youth.

Swallowing My Pride and Asking for Help

I am a very stubborn person and I hate asking for help. I grew up bring told that asking for help was a sign of weakness (which obviously isn’t true). I can’t ask for help, especially when it comes to math. It’s because when I was in 6^th grade I had a terrible math teacher, like I mean she was Satan in disguise. I stayed after for help once and I never did after that (all the way through high school). She basically belittled us in class and after school if we didn’t understand something. She would get mad and yell when we asked a question. I understand it’s easy for her, but it was our first time learning that math. She could’ve been a bit nicer.

But before I ramble too far off I’ll get back to my main point. I’m not good with math. I barely understand most of it. When I don’t understand something I have the habit of just making up my own rules. I had an upcoming test in my statistics class and I wanted to do well on it since we only have two tests the entire semester. So I did what any good student would do: went to class everyday, paid attention, took detailed notes, and even formed a study group with a few other students in my class. But I was still left with some questions. So I made an appointment with my professor to ask him a few questions.

One question I had for him was why my calculator kept coming up with the wrong answers? I followed his steps and even wrote them down so I wouldn’t forget them. And yet my answers never matched up with his in the class examples. After we fiddled around with my calculator for a bit we discovered the problem. My calculator was in radian mode when it should be in decimal mode. (Good lesson for everyone, check your mode and ask the professor what mode you should be in for each topic).

Another question I had was what exactly was going to be on the test.  He told me exactly what topics would be covered on the test, so I knew what to study.  Then I asked him how to tell which formulas to use for each problem. I found it difficult to know when I should used binomial pdf, binomial cdf, normal pdf, or binomial cdf. They’re all so close, it was hard to tell which equation was appropriate. My professor helped me distinguish which equations would work in each problem.

Today, I took the test. I don’t know how I did, but I was definitely more confident than I was beforehand. I’m now more open to asking professors for help. I saw and experienced the benefits of receiving extra help. And I’m more open to the idea now.

Reflecting on Midterm Grades

Well it’s hard to believe but I’m already more than half way through my first semester as a college freshmen. I was a little disappointed with my midterms in general. I was expecting them to be a bit more formal. I hear my other college friends at different universities freaking about their exams and I haven’t had one (yet).
For my computer class, we learn a new concept every week and work on a project that we later post to our homepage. My midterm was just another assignment along with all my previous grades. My anthropology midterm consisted of a paper and all of my previous grades plus attendance. My psychology exam hasn’t happened yet. (We’re taking it on Halloween and it’s my only formal exam). My statistic exam consisted of nothing but previous grade (which I’m not complaining about because I’m terrible with math. And you can view my Inquiry midterm on this blog.
My grades were all pretty good. I received B+s for both computer and anthropology, A for stat, psych is N/A and Inquiry I also received an A (not for the video, it was based on previous grades). I mean that’s pretty good for college level, but I’m still a bit disappointed.

I should’ve and could’ve tried harder in my computer class. I’m not technologically advanced and lost little points on small factors I forgot to incorporate into my assignments. Another thing that upset me was my anthropology grade. I got 11 out of 15 on my paper. It’s not too bad, but it’s not what I strived for. I lost points because I labeled the premises wrong. Okay, I’ll take that without question. I was a bit confused about the differences, tried to get help from the book, but it just confused me more, so I guessed.  What angered me was she took points off because my evaluations of each argument weren’t long enough. Yeah I know each evaluation was supposed to be one page and each argument in standard form plus references was supposed to be a page each. That added up to 4 pages, the maximum for the paper. But my paper went well into 6 pages because each argument was almost two pages each. If I kept everything in my paper I would’ve had 6+ pages. I cut out and butchered my essay to fit her requirements. But what can I do? Next paper I’m just going to include everything that’s necessary and not worry so much about the length restraints.

Other than that I have no complaints. I’m proud of what I did. It seems to be working for me. I just need to try a bit harder in computers and anthropology. Other than that I’m satisfied with my overall results. If I could offer any advice it would be to work hard all semester because you never know which professors will consider your overall work into your midterm grade. If you slack off then, it’ll end up hurting you twice.

Midterm

Here's my Critical Thinking Midterm. Hope it works:Inquiry Midterm

Stepping Outside of My Comfort Zone

For the past two weeks, I spent most of my free time doing something uncomfortable (interviewing people and working with an unfamiliar software for my midterm assignment). I expressed my feelings in a previous blog and my professor commended me on my honesty and efforts to get through this project.  

Now this weeks assignment is to go out and do something new, that would make us step out oh our comfort zone… -_-…. Really now? I have to do this all over again? Oh well, I’m feeling adventurous so I decided to give it my all. And luck for me the perfect opportuity arose last weekend. Saturdays are my one day of absolute freedom, I have no school, no work, no other commitments. It’s completely free for me to make plans with friends and do whatever we want. 

This weekend one friend suggested that we go to Sleeping Giant. Now I’ve never been there, but I know it’s pretty steep and I don’t do well with heights. If I’m too high up and look down I usually get dizzy. I  decided to go for it (since it would be a great blogging topic). Since all of my friends have already been there, they decided to go on the Blue Trail (the hardest trail).

For those of you who have never been on the Blue Trail it starts with a vertical climb. I guess its to give everyone a quick taste of what they’re going into. There were a few plateaus but it was mostly uphill. It was very difficult. There was one part where you could overlook and easily fall. I took a quick peak out of curiosity and instantlym regretted it. Luckily I was smart and kept a distance.

We had to stop a few times because my boyfriend and another friend got sick a few times (my boyfriend decided to drink a milk protein shake and our friend ate a footlong meatball sub right before we started). It’s safe to say that they regretted that decision. When we got to the top, it was absolutely beautiful. I took a picture with my phone (my friend Becky is in the picture). It was absolutely gorgeous and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, cold enough that we would be cooled after hiking.

After hanging out for a bit we started heading back down. It was a fun, tiring walk back. When we got back to our cars we decided to stop at Sonic for a bite to eat. Overall, it was a scary, fun, exciting way to spend my day. I can’t wait to go back to Sleeping Giant. I conquered a fear (sort of), got to hang out with friends, and enjoyed a gorgeous view of a New England autumn.

Did I Pick the Right Major?

For this week’s campus safari I decided to check out the Major’s Expo that took place in the Adanti Student Center Ballroom. Now I already declared my major, so you may be wondering why I went. Honestly I wasn’t planning on going, but then my Inquiry professor advised our class that we should all go, whether we had a major or not. She said that even if we have a major we should still go and explore all of Southern’s options. Also, it’s a great place to find a minor.

So, I decided to explore, but I did not go alone. I brought along my two friends Katie and Ally. Katie had no choice because I was driving her home and Ally had to go for her Inquiry class. It was definitely more fun having friends with me. After we signed in (I still have no idea why we had to swipe our hoot loot cards to get in) we explored a bit. It was a bit smaller than I first anticipated. I thought there would be more booths. I was also surprised that it wasn’t crowded (but then I remembered that it was a 3 hour event so it shouldn’t be crowded).

It was definitely well organized. There were neat, clear presentation boards. It was easy to find each major. And most of them had tons of information displayed and papers that you could take. After talking to a few people working each major, I could tell that these people really knew what they were talking about. They were patient, polite, well informed, and willing to answer any questions we had.

We did a couple of rounds and stopped at a few tables that interested us (we also had to stop so my friend could sign in with her Inquiry teacher). I grabbed a few packets of info. I learned more about what my major (Psychology) has to offer. And I also scouted out a few possible minors.

Overall, my experience was a positive one. I learned new things about what Majors/Minors Southern has to offer, I got to spend some time with friends while participating in a school event. To me that seems like a double win. I also liked the fact that there was such a wider time frame. Usually the events I get emailed are for like an hour and it’s usually going on when I have class or work. So it was a pleasant change to be able to attend an event in my free time. I didn’t have to rearrange my schedule or miss out on it completely. Basically I had a pleasant experience and I would recommend it to all Southern students.

(P.S. My friend was creeping on me in the picture above)

Not Following Directions Well

For today’s blog I’m supposed to create a chart showing how I’ve used my time so far for this video project and how I plan on using the rest of my time, but I’m not going to do that. I don’t like time management charts and planning out my time. I think it takes longer to plan out your time and it’s a waste of time where you could be doing something productive. Besides I never stick to my schedule anyway and I never continue to write one up after the first week.

 I have a general outline of what I have to do every day. I memorize my weekly tasks and work other tasks into my day. I only write down appointments when it’s not a daily or weekly thing (for example, doctor appointments, vet visits, meetings, etc.). I know what I have to accomplish in a day and when it needs to be done by. I constantly run through everything I need to do in my head when I’m walking, driving, zoning out during a boring lecture, etc. I feel that writing down every single thing I have to do at a set time is pointless because things come up and schedules have to change. Also, I’ll probably end up losing or accidently throwing out my schedule.

 So this week I’m being a bit rebellious with this project, but I need flexibility, not structure, to get my work done. And I think I’m doing pretty well on it so far. I have two interviews done so far, I emailed a few professors some questions, and I’m working on scheduling more interviews with other students. My game plan right now is to collect all of my data and upload it to my video. Once I finish that I’m going to organize it so it has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Then once it’s all nice and organized, I’m going to mess around with it transitions, music, and whatever else I can find. Finally, and hopefully I’ll be able to think of something creative to add to my video, to make it stand out from everyone else’s. Right now I don’t have anything, but I’m sure I’ll think of something. I think I might ask a few friends to watch my video, once it’s complete, and ask them how they think I could spice it up a bit.

 I wish I could give you guys a more step-by-step blue print of my project, but I don’t have one and have no intentions of creating one. I’m not going to waste time that I could be using to work on the project to write up a plan that I’m not going to follow. I know what I need to do and I will do it when the time has come. Some people need to plan out every action of their projects in order to complete them well, but I don’t. I mean I did the entire first draft in one night (I did the interviews ahead of time) and from what I saw in class I’m headed on the right track.

I'm Sorry but I'm Experiencing Some Technical Difficulties...

Ok so this blog post is going to be similar to the last blog post because this time we have to write about technical difficulties we had/are having making the video project (which is basically what I did because all I had was problems with this assignment). But I’ll try to keep it fresh and interesting for my readers.

 First problem, I can’t find anyone to interview for my project. I’ve had people refuse (you’d think I was asking them to rob a bank or something). Also, I don’t feel comfortable asking any of my professors to be interviewed. I’m not a very outgoing person and hate approaching people. So what am I going to do? I need students and faculty to interview but I can’t find anyone I know that is willing and can’t get the nerve to ask any professors to be interviewed. Here’s my solution: 1) I’m branching out. Since my close friends won’t help, I have to broaden my horizons. I asked a few people from my old high school, who I was acquainted with to help and they were more than happy to.2) Email. Since I don’t feel comfortable talking to my professors in person I sent them an email asking if they could help me with a project and sent a few questions. This will give them time to answer and respond in their free time and helps me with my anxiety about asking in person.

 My next problem: Loading the video. So as I told you in my last blog, I was having technical difficulties with my video. But do not fear my readers I discovered the problem and fixed it. Apparently I downloaded a really outdated version of Windows Live Movie Maker. I went home and downloaded a newer version and behold! It worked. I feel a bit foolish because it was such a simple problem, but we live and we learn from our mistakes, right?

 And a third problem I’m having with this video midterm is pure lack of motivation to get anything done. I’m going to be honest for a minute and not beat around the bush. I don’t want to do any of this project because I flat out don’t like it. I appreciate this creative way to do the midterm and the skills she’s teaching us. But I don’t like being forced to interact with people I don’t know and try a technology that I’ve had no experience with for a midterm grade. I would be more comfortable with a test or a paper but that’s just me. So how am I going to solve this problem? Basically just to suck it up. If I want to do well and get a good grade in this class I just have to play by the rules. In life, I’m going to have to do things that I may not want to do. I just have to suck it up and try it. And I know in the end I’m going to gain a lot from this experience and appreciate my professor pushing us to try something new that we may not be comfortable with.