April Needs Showers to Bring May Flowers

4/1-3/11
I spent this weekend in the library preparing for my history and sociology exams! I used a lot of my roomate's dining dollars to pay for all of my coffee and snacks in the Commons! So I really hope that it pays off!

4/5/11
Today was my dad's birthday! I was really sad I wasn't in Lubbock to hang out with him, but o well! I sent him a funny animated video birthday card. In ENDS 101, we talked about research and data, 2 things that I am unfortunately familiar with! Being a PSYC major, most of my classes are about research. It was nice to hear about research processes not in specifics to psychology because I didn't hear the redundant usage of sample size, outliers, behavior, etc. Sometimes it is nice to wipe the slate clean and go back to a basic research process that is applicable to more than just my field of study. I know I am not the only college student who feels like I need to take a step back and look at things from a more broad perspective! Also, this day I turned in my second part of the 12 Soft Innovations. My ideas were as follows: Monitoring Sleep Patters, Pay to Park System, Process of Selling Books Back, and Grocery Store Online Preordering. All of these process were things that I thought about that I would like to change.


4/6/11
All day, the only thing that  I could think about was how excited  I was for my sister to get into to town! It is her first time here in College Station, so I am extremely pumped. I made her go to my Leadership Development Meeting with me, and she hated it lol. I was so excited to share this part of my life with her though. She just graduated cosmetology school and starting her career. I am envious that she know exactly what she wants to do and is getting to do it. I am still tryin to figure everything out. I am so fickle that I don't know if I'll ever officially want to do one thing. Maybe her being here will help me find some clarity!

4/7/11
After a relaxing morning, of sleeping in, I went to ENDS 101 to listen to the group presentations. As soon as they were over, I hurried out to go meet my sister for lunch! We had La Bodega, my favorite taco place in town, and ended up sitting on the patio talking for about 3hours. It was the first time that my sister and I had truely ever talked about our futures and the things that I wanted to accomplish in life. She talked about how she figured out what she wanted to do and all of the adversities she faced in order to find out for sure if that was what she wanted to do. Although my sister and I have not always had the best relationship, I am starting to better understand her and I respect all of the things she has been through. It is comforting to know that she now supports me 100% no matter what I do. It is a new thing that I am experiencing.

4/8-9/11

This weekend, my sister, her best friend, and I went to Chilifest! I told her that she had to experience a true College Station Tradition, and this was the perfect oppurtunity. I was the DD all weekend, which ended up being one of the most entertaining experiences ever. Nothing could top the memory of my car driving through Snook, with all windows down, everyone singning to the Ke$ha CD at the top of our lungs! There is something about a crowd of 35,000 people singing country music on a field that's in the middle of nowhere that only Texans can pull off! It makes me proud to be from Texas, and even more proud to be from Texas A&M!

4/12/11
Today, I didn't go to class because the night before was my best friend's 21st birthday. I slept in then went to the library where I reviewed my old sociology exams and read a chapter for PSYC 345. After the library I went to work for the until about 10 pm then went home and slept some more!

4/13/11
Third time this semester where both of my classes got cancelled for the day! I laid by the pool for a few howers then got a manicure and pedicure with my roomate! what a treat!

4/14/11In ENDS 101 today, we saw the last group of presentations. It also got announced that my group was selected as the winner for our day of presentations! TrackIt seems like it could be a such a good business idea, so may I will pursue it =] This afternoon, I met with the MSC President Collin Laden to discuss an upcoming event that we are planning, the MSC Construction Milestone Party! We hashed out all the details of what is left to do with only 2 weeks remaining until the event. This idea started for me last September when I decided I wanted to do something to remind the student body that the MSC is not just a building, but a living memorial to this campus. My original idea was a 5K to benefit the MSC and the money raised would go toward funding something in the MSC. As I worked with Collin over the past few months, we turned it into something so much better! Students will actually be able to walk through the MSC in less than 2 weeks! This is a huge success for me and it is going to be an amazing opportunity for students!

4/15/11
RING DAY! Today my roomate got her Aggie Ring! I am so proud of her! I have had mine since September, and seeing how dull mine looks compared to hers made me feel really old! Ridiculous! I am younger than her! Everytime I look down and see that little gold ring on my finger, I am reminded of the amazing opportunity that I have been priveledged to have to go to school here. Knowledge is the one thing that can never be taken from you, and to have something that symbolizes that is a blessing!

4/19/11
I was a little bit bummed to get to ENDS 101 this day to see that we had a guest lecturer. Although I enjoyed the lecture, I felt that it was a lot of random facts and statistics that were thrown together in order to prove the point that creativity and innovation are the key ingredients for a successful future. I thnk another important one that is undermined a lot is adaptability. In his presentation, Dr. Hill talked about how change is never ending and that if you get fixated on adjusting to the way one thing is changing, by the time you are adjusted, it has changed again, so you have to be adaptable! My new 3 ingredients to success stew: creativity, innovation, and adaptability!

4/20/11
Group presentations starting in my SOCI 206 class, and a girl nearly fainted, she was so nervous! What is it about public speaking that makes people so nervous?! I get more nervous when it is me speaking to a few people who are interviewing me. I think a more closed environment with me versus a smaller group is much more intimate.


4/21-25/11
I left early Thursday morning to make my 7.5 hour journey home for Easter! I felt bad not going to class, but I thought it would be unsafe for me to start my drive at 2 when I got out of class. The drive was relaxing becuase I listened to Jack Johnson, John Mayer, and Brendan James my whole drive home. When I got to Lubbock, I submitted the 3rd part of my 12 Soft Innovations of the Business Models: Park and Play, Work-Stay Eligible?, Rent-to-Read, and Laundry to Go! All of these are businesses that I would definitely invest in! It was my first time to see my parent's new house, and I had to sleep on a futon. I didn't even care becuase to me, as long as I am with my family, it doesn't matter what I am sleeping on. Throughout the weekend, I got to see my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents and got to spend a lot of time relaxing. It was a great Easter!

4/26/11
Today, in ENDS 101, we discussed technology. My favortie thing that he talked about was how people where applying convergent thinking to come up with many different technologies, then finding uses for them. It would be such an interesting job to work for a technology company and come up with the craziest things. Another huge availabilty for improvement is how to build those bridges across the Valley of Death and the Darwinian Sea. If I could find a way to do that, I would have an entirely new form of human capital! In PSYC 345, I was so bored that I actually fell asleep. WHO DOES THAT!? I should find it interesting because it is my major! RIDICULOUS.

4/27/11
After giving a group presentation in SOCI 206 on the Globalization of Ireland, I got the call about my dog getting out. When I finally found her, she was in a forest chasing a wild boar. As I tried to get my dog to leave it alone and come with me, I nearly got attacked by the boar! Daisy ended up catching it, and I had to call animal control. WHO ELSE WOULD THAT HAPPEN TO ?!!?!?! My dog is such a hunter!

4/28/11
Today was the last day of lecture. In class, we review the objectives in the syllabus and addressed how we have accomplished each one. This class has pushed my creative borders and allowed me to find an innovative side that I never knew I had. The Creative Journal has tought me that sometimes it is nice to have a record of your thoughts and the ideas because you can always go back to them. People can change the world little by little if they just start with a problem and identify how they want to make it better! I plan to continue my blogging!

Marching On

3/1/11
Today was VERY long day. It started with work at 8:00 am then ended after Silver Taps. After ENDS 101 and PSYC 345, my afternoon was spent looking at locations for the Women's Leadership Forum Luncheon. It amazes me that people wanted to schedule hour long appointments when all I needed to do was walk the location and see if it was big enough then pick my favorite one. Regardless, after 3 hours of walking around and repeating all the details of the event, I settled on a location, The Association of Former Students! I was so caught up in the excitement of finally having a venue, that I completely missed a Supplementary assignment for ENDS. Cool... NOT! You win some you lose some though right?

3/2/11
Nothing too exciting today. My classes were cancelled, so I spent the day laying in bed for the first time in a while! A much needed refresher...

3/3/11
After my typical start to a Thursday morning, I was surprised to go to ENDS 101 where we discussed Leadership. Of course this was destined to be my favorite lecture! My mom always gets mad at me and tells me that my organizations are good and all, but I am here to go to school. Although I respect that opinion, my opinion that my learning experience at Texas A&M has been outside of the classroom. Some of the info that I have learned from classes has been applicable, but I'm not going to be in  classroom forever, so it has been good for me to be able to adapt to other environments. The only thing that was unclear to me in lecture was Servant Leadership. After discussing the 10 characteristics of servant leadership, I realized that I there was nothing about actually serving others in the list. There were actions that you commit when interacting with another person, but serving is an actions of one's own doing, regardless of interaction with another person. This can mean anything from giving your time to help someone in need to picking up trash in the classroom without being asked. I think Spears needs to re-evaluate his list....

3/4-6/11
This weekend was spent in preparation for Sunday night. Friday at 8:00 am letters went out to all of the applicants who applied for LEAD director. After long and difficult deliberations, we selected 20 directors. Sunday night was their Subcommittee Revelation, where they got to find out what they were in charge of. On Friday, I planned out what we were going to do for rev, then went to the LEAD  Date Party at the Rec Center! It was so much fun!

After being exhausted from Date Party, I called it a night. Saturday, I woke up and immediately made my shopping list for all of the things that I had to buy for Director Rev. My list consisted of bandanas, laminent, colored cups, picture frames, posters, markers, rubber ducks, shirts, glow in the dark paint, spray paint, glow in the dark beads, and string. I know you are thinking WHAT THE HECK COULD ALL THAT MAKE?! It could make the perfect rev! I spent the rest of Saturday with one of my Execs and we got all the materials (except the dang purple plastic cups!) Our plan was to have 2 fakeouts then the real rev. The first fake out was to tape a piece of paper on their forehead that they were given, then they had to figure out which subco it said from other people. We made the little slips of paper for this. The second fake out was to put names and numbers on the botttom of rubber ducks and put them in the fountain in front of George Bush Library. The numbers grouped together then had to put together a puzzle to find out their subco. For this, we had to write on all the rubber ducks and make the poster board puzzles (which was insanely time consuming). I save making everything for the final revelation for Sunday, so I got up, and got ready to make the shirts. Our final rev was to have black lights set up in a room and we would have their shirts that said their real subcos positioned into a circled and we would walk them to their spot then they could remove their bandanas! When I opened the package, I realized that we had purchased kid sized shirts! Great! Another hour long Wal-Mart adventure and I finally had the right sizes. Making the shirts was about a 6 hour process and in between spray painting, splatter painting, writing, and blow drying, I still had to go find purple cups. I took 3 different trips to go look for them, but didn't have any luck, so I finally settled on some purple glass ones at World Market. Everything got done just in time for Arturo and Taylor to meet me at my house and go. We went to meet the directors and Joel at Fuzzy's. Everything was going perfectly! The night went by with a few speed bumps (such as EVERY purple glass breaking after all my troubles), but overall it was amazing! So excited to have LEAD Staff 2014!

3/7/11
Monday was spent hashing out all the last details with Women's Leadership Forum. I booked the catering, confirmed the event location, and confirmed speakers. What a relief! Now all that is left to do is advertise and get students there!

3/8/11
After going to ENDS 101 and PSYC 345, I sat at work feeling as if I was forgetting something. I checked my planner, and sure enough, I was! I saw that the first part of my 12 Soft Innovations project was due for my ENDS 101 at 5 pm! As I sat at my desk, the only ideas that I could generate were things that would warm me up because it was about 60 degrees in my office! I camp up with the ideas of hand held heaters, robes with neck pillows, and a heat and massaging belt for my back.Then I went to the restroom and passed the disability services center and saw a man who looked extremely tired from pushing his wheelchair. That drove my motivation for my last idea of gears for wheelchairs that would make inclines and declines easier. Isn't it strange that many of our ideas come from environmental cues?

3/9/11
After my SOCI 206 Exam, I headed straight for 2818 Place where I started setting up for the Safe Spring Break Pool Party where we were serving alcohol free margaritas and snacks to try to get students to make safe decisions on their Spring Break trips. A day in the sun is never a bad thing, especially when you are getting paid to do it!

3/10/11
Today I was a bad student and did not go to any classes. I had the worst case of Spring-Break-Itis that has ever existed! The only thing I could think about was how much I had to take care of before I left, including finding someone to keep my dogs for me! My day was spent sleeping in, running errands, working out, tanning, and packing. All in all, it was definitely a productive day, just not in school terms...

3/11-19/11
SPRING BREAK! This week was spent in Panama City Beach! I stayed in a house with 33 people, some who I knew, some who I didn't know. I had the best week because I finally got to relax a little bit and not feel like I 30 meetings to attend everyday. I came home feeling very rejuvenated and feeling like I had 33 best friends. It is weird sitting in my house and hearing silence. Makes me a bit nostalgic for Florida....

3/21/11
Today I prepared all of the materials and presentations for MSC LEAD'S Sophomore Leadership Workshop. It was originally planned as a conference, but due to the snow day earlier in the semester, we had to postpone it and shorten it. After our Staff Meeting, my subcommittee met in the Student Programs Office to organize all of the programs for SLW. Once we got all of the materials set and confirmed the speakers, we called it quits for the night. My anticipation for tomorrow is uncontrollable!

3/22/2011
I woke up feeling like this was going to be a good day. Of course when you have that feeling, you must guess that something is probably going to go wrong. At 1:24pm I received a call of bad news that put a damper on my whole day. Why is it that anytime you encounter a conflict, it is the only thing that dominates your thoughts? Is it because you become occupied with trying to identify every solution or every way that the problem could turn out? Throughout the day, I caught myself thinking about the phone call about every 10 minutes. After being excited and prepared for my Sophomore Leadership Workshop for about 2 months, I found myself not even wanting to be there. Although my sophomores had worked extremely hard and I was very proud, I could not even express that because I was so upset and caught up in worry with my problem. How can we learn to set aside our problems and worries so that it doesn't affect our daily life?

3/23/11
I took a personal day today and talked to a counselor to try to find a way to handle conflict that would be beneficial to me.

3/24/11
After sitting through my normal Women's Leadership Forum Planning Committee Meeting, I started my long walk, to the architecture building. I was curious as to what we would be learning about from our guest lecturer. Within the first 3 slides of his presentation, he mentioned National Women's Day and Month. The remainder of the class was spent discussing the differences in gender throughout the different time periods, advertising, dress codes, and careers. This day, I could not escape my inner feminist. Seeing all of the facts about women being in positions of power made me proud. It also makes me assess the things that I am doing. If there are so many women around the world stepping up into these positions and making changes, what can I do to help? What differences do I want to make. As the Personal Branding Profile asks, what do I want my legacy to be? This is possibly a whole new challenge to me. Working with the Women's Resourse Center on the WLF may be a blessing in disguise, an opportunity waiting to be seeked!

3/29/11
The day finally came! I have been planning the Women's Leadership Forum all, semester, and the time finally came! After all my hard work, my plans were coming to fruitition. I have never been so proud of something! As with any event, there were a few changes that had to be made and a few mistakes here and there, but overall, the forum was a success! Although I missed both ENDS 101 and PSYC 345, I still got to see Dr. V, who actually attended the WLF Luncheon and got to see my hard work! After reflecting on my new self challenge of what legacy I would leave through my female leadership, I decided to use my networking to pursue a dream. A passion of mine is global service, and through Elizabeth McKee Gore coming to speak, I learned about two campaigns through the United Nations. Nothing but Nets raises money to send mesquito nets to homes in Africa and GirlUp works locally through teen leaders to get young girls excited about a global service project and findign a way to be able to make a difference. After a long discussion with a member of my subcommittee, she and I decided that where  better to start a GirlUp campaign, but here in BCS?! There are hundreds of high school students who volunteer locally, but what can we be doing on a global level to expand that realm of service? We are working with Elizabeth McKee Gore to figure just that out!

The Girl Up Website!

3/31/11

 It was strange not attending a WLF Planning Meeting for the first week in months! Instead I was making up a PSYC 345 exam that I missed on Tuesday. It was strange taking an exam in a break room where the aroma of coffee broke my concentration cycle. After my exam, I was so tired. I made it to ENDS 101 just in time for class to start! Our group presented our idea of TrackIt to the class then listened to other groups. After barely being able to stay awake through some presentations, I decided that it was a better idea for me to go home and nap than going to PSYC 345. WORTH IT because I ended up sleeping through the night!

Catching Up!

2/8/11
As I sat in class in ENDS 101 this day, I started thinking about eye contact a little bit more. It seemed like every time I would start to day dream a little bit, Dr. Vanegas would pull me right back in with once quick glance. It is improbable to think that the professor was intentional with his eye contact, as if he knew my focus was fading, especially in a class as large as ours. Yet, time after time I found my thoughts slipping away, each time to be brought back to reality with the quick eye contact. Am I the only one who experiences the heart sinking adrenaline rush when my thoughts are fading? Or is that just a guilty conscience, almost and "I caught ya!" moment? I tried to push aside these thoughts as I went into my next class where I had my first exam in Human Cognitive Processes. Ironic that I am trying to control my thoughts in a class titled that. As I sat, staring blankly at the ceiling trying to picture all of the index cards I had made, I felt the eyes of my professor burning a hole in me. When I brought my eyes down from the ceiling, we made I contact, and again, my heart sank. Does our heart sink out of the automatic assumption that we are doing something wrong? Or is it just human nature that shocks us when unexpected eye contact is made?
That night was also my first time to meet my ENDS 101 group. After attempting my first P90X workout video, I raced to the annex where we met, talked, and worked on the project. This was my first group project in my time at Texas A&M. After finding out that the way I study best is in a cubby at the library, this was a refreshing break for me because I am so socially oriented. We came up with the team #42 name of A.I.D. standing for Aggies In Design. We were able to convey our team information through the use of a paper towel roll to show that we would keeping "rolling out new ideas." It was fun being able to put a motto to our group because I feel like it gives us a common purpose.

2/10/11
Another long Thursday filled with the normal routine: Work, Women's Leadership Forum Planning Committee meetings, ENDS 101, PSYC 345, and more work! In my WLF meeting, the only thing that was dominating my thoughts in this meeting was my long to do list for the event. As I listened to all the discussions about all of the unnecessary details of the event, the only thing I could think about is how much more productive of a use of time it would be for me to be accomplishing my tasks. This led to a train of thoughts of how meetings go in general. Every meeting I've been to consists of the same structure: an intro, a report of what has been done, then a telling of the things that need to be done. Efficient right? WRONG! Human beings are socially oriented, so we all feel the need to comment on the way a task is completed or give our input in some way. This usually leads to a digression that takes about 10 minutes to recover from. My goal is to come up with a new process for meetings that is more efficient on both social and business levels.

2/11-13/11
This weekend I was conducting interviews to select the 3 Executive Directors that would be working under me for MSC LEAD. Friday was filled with application reviews, Saturday was filled with interviews, and Sunday was filled with deliberations and notifications. Throughout this whole process, I found it challenging to accept the fact that I was now the one in charge and that I was the one asking all the questions. It was so strange for me to feel that the tables had turned, and I found it challenging to separate myself from the nerves that the applicants were experiencing. I tried to make the interviews as casual as possible, because countless times I have sat on the other side of the table, anticipating every next question, preparing to deliver the perfect answer. Making the call to inform someone that they did not get the position they applied for is something I never want to take part in again. I have felt the pain of my world being ripped apart after putting my everything into something, then to receive nothing for it. This makes me wonder if this is what it's like to be in leadership positions in general. Does being on top always mean being the one who makes the tough decisions? Because if so, it may not be all it's cracked up to be, and I'm started to believe that the top truly is the loneliest place.

2/14/11
Valentine's Day...... SCREW THAT! It was a day spent with my best friend and we enjoyed a lovely meal at Madden's and then dove into some lovely chocolates!

2/15/11
In ENDS 101 this day, I found myself comparing one of the statement's that Dr. V made to a thought that Blake Godkin had. In the lecture, Dr. V talked about how the 3 components of creativity, innovation, and design were not enough to manage the creativity process because we "kill ideas without giving them a chance." This made me reflect on Blake Godkin's concept of convergent thinking. In convergent thinking we practiced throwing out as many ideas as possible without judging them or cancelling any of them. If we were to apply convergent thinking to all areas of life, how much more could we expand our horizons in every realm, not just creativity?

2/17/11
Another tedious Women's Leadership Forum Committee Meeting was followed by the best class yet in ENDS 101. Through this day in lecture, I learned that I am the Anthropologist, the Director, the Caregiver. I also learned that I am both the yellow and red hats because I am both positive and emotionally involved. This class really excited me because I am student leader. In all of my organizations, I am pushing myself to grow and become a better leader. The better I can understand myself and the dynamics of the way I work ,the better I can communicate that to other people and work together in a team environment. All of these things tie back into my group projects for the class because I know what role I play within A.I.D.

2/18-20/11
A weekend at home refreshed me. Going to be with you're family can make anything better, especially when you are surprising your mom for her birthday! Now back on the grind....

2/22/11
My favorite part about the lecture in ENDS 101 this day was discussing the Systems Approach. In this approach, we discussed how you have to look at the problem from many points of view so that you can identify the REAL problem. In this class, we talk about everything in relation to the topic of creativity. I find that the best part of the material is that no matter what, I can apply it to other areas of my life. The systems approach could be better defined in my life as the Inquisitive Approach. I find that I usually go with my gut instinct before I ever ask any questions. This has been both beneficial and harmful to me. For my life specifically, I feel that if I ask more questions, I not only understand more points of view, but I understand more about all possible outcomes. By taking my revised "Inquisitive Approach," I would be able to make more informed choices. All of these thoughts carried over into my PSYC 345 class where we learned about how different diseases affect the mental capacity for decision making.

2/23/11
Why is the first exam in any class the most intimidating test of the year? Each semester, you get new professors, and each semester, you know that the first exam is coming. The week before an exam in a class lights a fire underneath all of the lazy's students butts and suddenly, they are attending every class and all of the office hours. Does this really even help or is it just to soothe some part of their guilty conscience for not being prepared?

2/24/11
The only interesting part of my day was finishing my ENDS 101 project of "The Next Great Aggie Inventor." I came up with the idea of a scantron dispenser for classrooms because it would be extremely useful and would turn a profit!

2/25-26/11
Whoever decided that it was a good idea to do certified peer education training in sessions last 6 hours then 10 hours has got to be the craziest person ever. After about 2 hours of talking about conflict remediation, things start to seem a little redundant. There are only so many scenarios we can act that could accurately reflect a real life situation. I have learned that the most important part in being a leader in any situation is that you have a to be a good listener. A good listener is not only characterized by their ability to hear and process the things that are being told to them, but someone who truly cares. If you truly care about what the other person says, you are less likely to fall into the human temptation of making every conversation about you. You will listen to the things that they are saying instead of trying to formulate your next question or remark. Another important quality that was taught like beating a dead horse was to only give advice when asked to. I fell like these were all common sense things that they took 16 hours of my life to talk about when I probably could've passed the final exam before ever even taking the course......

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Will This Be the Longest Post of All?

1/31/2011
This day, I decided I would take the day off. I knew it would be an especially difficult day for me because it marked the one year anniversary of my close friend, Trigg Hughes, being killed. By age 20, you don't find yourself that well equipped to deal with the death of a close friend. You have normally been exposed to a death in the family, but you don't think of losing friends until you are much older. This is a cold reality that many people have to face. You often hear people say "Live every day like it is your last," and today reinforced that for me. Nobody could have predicted what happened to Trigg, not even himself. When people ask the question, what would you do if you have one day to live, I respond with "I don't know. I guess whatever I had already had planned for the day," becuase I know I would never be given the opportunity to answer that in a real-life scenario. This evokes another thought about why people are so prone to conjuring up hypothetical situations. Is it not true that if were to instead focus on the present, we would actually be able to live in the moment and not miss things while we are busy thinking about "what could happen" or what "might happen." In my opinion, people who live their lives wondering about hypothetical things are people who live their lives in fear. So on this day, I take a vow for Trigg. I vow to live in the present becuase in the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

2/1/2011This day began with the realization that a cold front had come through College Station after I was backed out of my garage and running late to work. I didn't havet time to go back in to grab a heavier jacket. I would definitely regret this later. Once I got to work, I recieved the pleasant task of being assigned a Valentine's Day project. I was supposed to make a bulletin board about Valentine's Day and decorate the office. I don't know if it was strategic or not, but they picked the Scrooge of Valentine's Day to have to do all of the dirty work. I sat around and made myself look busy until I headed off to class. When I arrived at class, someone had pulled the fire alarm, so I got to wait outside in the cold for 10 miutes with no jacket. In ENDS 101, we talked about our "flow," or our creative environment. I thought to myself about all of the places I have studied or tried to get any work done and which one worked the best for me. Libraries are far too full of people, and when you're as much of a social butterfly as I am, this just sets me up for a fail of productivity. My bed is a far worse idea because I can lay down anywhere, anytime and take a nap. The lighting in my kitchen is far to bright for me to study at the table, and my treehouse is far too relaxing. SO WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND MY CREATIVE ELEMENT?! I have finally found my study zone! I find that I am most productive and creative if I am sitting on the couch in my living room with the dogs next to me. Because my dogs are like my children, I worry about them constantly when I am not home. When they are laying next to me, I feel comfortable and am able to focus. I am also able to stay awake without gettting distracted becuase I am comfortable, but not too much, and the lighting is just right. I had a friend join me to study the other night, and the first thing that he did was turn on his music. I came unglued! NOT MY FLOW! My next class paralleled with the ENDS 101 lecture. We discussed attention spans and what environments facilitate a longer attention span. We also discussed how attention plays a part in memory. After class, I went back to work where I continued acting busy so that I wouldn't have to do the bulletin board taht would make me ever so aware that I am still single.... Of course at 4:55 PM when I am getting ready to leave, the fire alarm goes off! So again, I got to wait outside of a building in the cold without a jacket. I was bound to get sick.....

2/2/2011
This day I participated in an Honor Board for an organization. As I listened to the person present their side of the story after I had already seen pictures that proved him guilty, I couldn't help but wonder what makes people lie. I am just as guilty as any other person of lying, but what is it that makes us not tell the truth? This presents the bigger argument: Is human nature innately good or evil?

2/3/2011
Of course I woke up on Tuesday feeling as if I had been hit by a bus and as if i tried to put a sword down my throat like a member of the circus. I could barely move to get my laptop to schedule a doctor's appointment. When I tried to call my roomate to get him to help me, I found that I had no voice. I was incredibly miserable and laid in bed until my doctor's appointment at 2:00pm. I found that I was actually sad that I was missing ENDS 101 though! I was so glad that I was not having to get out of bed and walk around in the cold though! I laid in bed and finished my personal branding profile for the class, where I got to answere a lot of questions about who I am and the things I am passionate about! What a great opportunity to put that down on paper!

2/4/2011
I go to let my dogs out first thing in the morning and what do I see but SNOW?! I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, BUT IT WAS REAL! What fortunate timing that I didn't have to miss any class because it was cancelled! Now for 3 full days of recovery!

2/6/2011
Super Bowl Sunday, or for me, Strep Throat Sunday! I laid in bed with my dogs, humidifier, and hot tea and watched the Green Bay Packers take home the trophy!

Reflections from the past

As I was testing which types of blogs I should try to use, I decided I would write down my thoughts on paper then enter them all when I officially started my blog. The first few posts are mainly about things that I thought about in class with some added commentary from things that I wrote about while riding the buses to and from class.

WEEK OF JANUARY 24-30, 2011

1/25: In ENDS 101 this day, we talked about divergent thinking. We discussed how it is about throwing as many ideas out there without judging or analyzing as possible. When we participated in this activity during class, I found that the ideas that I was coming up were becoming more and more far fetched. At first I decided that this was a weird thinking process, and that it probably wasn't a fit for me. But then I realized that maybe my ideas weren't so far fetched, that I was actually stretching my creative borders! I wonder how annoyed my friends would get if I applied divergent thinking to all areas of my life..... It would take hours to decide where we were going to eat, what our plans are for the night, and even worse.... What I am going to wear!

1/26: This day was a busy day for me. Back to back scheduling from 8:00 am until 9:30 pm.I decided that the one hour of free time that I had from 1:00pm to 2:00 pm would be best spent eating soup at Jason's Deli and tanning. As I laid in the tanning bed with noise from the fans and music playing, I realized that I felt more relaxed at that moment than I had at any other point in the day. Then I started to get stressed because I started thinking "WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I BE THE MOST RELAXED IN A PLACE THAT COULD POSSIBLY CAUSE SKIN CANCER?!" Then I realized that this probably wasn't the first time I considered myself most relaxed in a high-risk situation. For example, I LOVE flying on airplanes, even though they can crash, and oddly enough,  I LOVE gridlock traffic when I have nowhere to be. How could this be?!

1/27: This was another day filled full of meetings and class. I am on a planning committee for the Women's Leadership Forum. In a room full of 6 women, you can't imagine how often we digress. I, own my own, digress in thought. As we sat discussing the budget and who would be the best candidates for speakers, I couldn't help but let my inner psychologist out. I started looking at the different ways all of the women used their hands when they talked, trying to find similarities. Then it hit me! No matter what was being discussed, any time the speaker made eye contact with someone, the listener/recipient of eye contact ALWAYS nodded their head! I even caught myself doing it! I decided to make ENDS 101 my personal experiment that day. When I sat down in lecture, I decided to sit a little further back than I normally would have, the fifth row. From there I would be able to see more students. In the hour and fifteen minute lecture, I counted 73 head nods from people who the professor made eye contact with. I can't even imagine how many I missed from the twenty rows that were behind me! What is it about eye contact that makes our adrenaline sore, our heart race, our palms sweat? Is it the need to confirm the things that people are saying or is it just a normal reaction that is symbolic of the listener paying attention to the speaker? Just some food for thought.

1/29: This day, I was being interviewed for the position of Chair of an organization. When my alarm rang at 8:00am, the only thing I could think about was if the kolache that I was craving would come back up in my interview due to nerves. After being rejected from another position only 3 weeks earlier, the thought of having someone tell me that I am not good enough for the position was enough to make me shudder. I finally found the courage to shove off the covers and jump in a hot shower to try to calm my nerves. I decided it would probably be best not to eat. As I put on my first suit and the pearls that my mother gave me for high school graduation, I thought to myself how far I'd come. Two years ago, I was looking in that mirror wearing my favorite tshirt and jeans waiting to go interview to be a member of the organization. On my drive to the interview, the only thing that I could think about was the quote "Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." This is a piece of advice that I often give my friends, but when it comes to applying it to my own life, it just doesn't happen! This makes me think of how many times I have given a piece of advice but not been able to take it. My friends all tell me that I "need to take a dose of my own medicine" when I am down or when I face something difficult. What is it about "advice" that make people so self-righteous to think that they are different from anyone else? People think that they are so different from the people they give advice to that the things that they say wouldn't be applicable to their lives! Next time you are asking for advice, take a step back and think about what you would do if your friend presented this situation to you, what advice would you give them?

A skinny dip in the pond!

After talking through which type of blog would be best for me to use, I have decided that this is the most user friendly! Coming from the technology generation, I was not endowed with the abilities necessary to be good with technology. This is a blog about my thoughts. These thoughts will include discussions from class that spiked an interested for me as well as thoughts that just pop in my head. It will be my public stream of consciousness. This first post is just a test post to make sure that I am doing it correctly, and if I do, I will continue posting accordingly!

"An Aggie doesn't lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do."