Stop and smell the roses

What is stress? Webster dictionary describes stress as a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. In order to relieve stress one has to admit that he/she is stressed and confront the issues that are causing stress in order to reach a calm state.

Personally I tend to feel most stressed when I don’t get enough sleep, when I’m hungry and when I have a lot of work that needs to be completed. Some ways I overcome my stress is by breathing, telling myself that I’m ok, going for a jog, or drawing, these things help me to calm down. 

According to http://www.healthline.com the top 10 ways to handle stress are to listen to music, call a friend, talk yourself through it, eat right, breathe easy, laugh it off, be mindful, try tea, exercise, and sleep better. Listening to music has a positive effect on the brain and body, and can lower blood pressure. Calling a friend can put everything in perspective. Talking yourself through it can allow you to avoid going crazy. Eating well goes hand in hand with stress levels. Deep breathing oxygenates your blood, helps center your body, and clears your mind. Laughing releases endorphins that improve mood and decrease levels of the stress-causing hormones cortisol and adrenaline. Tea has thiamine—an amino acid that has a calming and soothing effect on the nervous system. Exercising moves blood, releases endorphins and can improve your mood almost instantaneously. Being mindful can incorporate physical and mental exercises that prevent stress from becoming a problem in the first place. Lastly is Sleep if you get enough you will be less stressed, but if you get too little you will be stressed. In conclusion I am going to try to incorporate these 10 things so that I can be less stressed.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away !

In this week’s blog I will be discussing strategies I employ to try to keep myself healthy while in college. Lately a lot of people have been coming down with the flu or just signs of flu. One main factor that contributes to inheriting the flu is your immune system. If you keep yourself healthy then your immune system will be strong, able to fight off viral infections (common flu), and if you don’t keep yourself healthy then you will have the opposite immune system. I wouldn’t consider myself the healthiest person in the world that would be absurd. Since I tend to eat a lot of junk food like pizza, honey buns, cheese burgers etc. But on the other hand I also like to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, when I’m not having the bad snacks/food. I think that my bad food intake and my good food intake balance out leaving me with a descent immune system since I rarely catch a cold.

Other contributions to staying well and healthy are getting a sufficient amount of sleep/per day slash having a set sleep schedule/per day. In my research I found that insufficient amount of sleep can lead to catching a cold easier, feeling stressed, feeling less awake during class or even less focused on tasks. Me personally I work about 15-20 hours a week I am a full time college student and I’m involved with extracurricular activities. So this means that I have to schedule my time wisely, I have to set time for homework, set time for my extracurricular, and time for SLEEP. Usually I have been going to sleep at 12-2 in the morning which is not at all good. I’m working towards having 8 or more hours of sleep and getting to bed the same time each night.

Exercise is up next on the list in order to maintain good health standing. How important is exercise? It is very important for your lungs, heart, muscles, and bones. Some exercises you could do in order to keep you hear and lungs in shape are aerobic exercises, for example running, swimming, or riding your bike. Exercises that keep you muscles and bones in good condition are strength exercises like lifting weights, push-ups, and sit-ups.  For me I used to be this active but since I’m now a freshman and still trying to find time in my schedule I haven’t been as active as I should be. In High school I played football, and I ran track which are both great examples of strength and aerobic exercises. In conclusion I want to maintain a good diet, sleep schedule, and exercise regime to keep myself healthy and ready O YEA !

Time well waitsted !

As we all know this week we had to observe ourselves to see what we use our extra 70 hours in a week doing. Remarkably i never had 70 hours to work with it was more like 30 hours of extra time in a week. As i conducted this experiment i found that the 30 hours a week are spent sometimes on beneficial things, but mostly on not so beneficial things. Throughout the week i watched myself melt into the couch, daydreaming for an hour straight. I watched myself pull an all nighter on the computer watching random things. And i even spent hours debating whether i should start my work for school. I never seemed to realize how bad of a procrastinator i was until the end of this experiment.

Not only did i spend my 70 hours a week doing nothing i spent most of my time working more hours at work than usual. Work is a very hard thing to maintain when i am a full time college student. Sometimes im even working the latest shift which brings me into the new day and i find myself tired in the mornings. To get to work i take the bus and the time i spend riding the bus back and forth adds up tremendously.

In conclusion may seem like an abundance of time but, it really isn't simply because things come up randomly. For example, if my boss calls me into work, missing the city bus, longer school days, having to clean my room, organizing my self, watching my siblings, taking longer than expected on homework, doctor oppointments, or driving class these are just a FEW things that happen randomly and unexpectedly.

Join a club

Southern's 2011 Club Fair was held yesterday at 1p.m. outside of Connecticut Hall. Glancing at the fair there had to be a couple hundred students in attendance. The fair was full of clubs, food, entertainment and many different activities. When i first came to the fair i was greeted with  " Hello Join our club" by many club members. As i paced up and down the rows of clubs many were interesting, and some not so interesting. The clubs that i found very interesting that i signed up for were rugby, biology club, and F.L.O.W.

Besides the club booth's there was free food like ice cream and fried dough. Also there was a guy who spray painted hats for people which was really cool. Here is a photo i took of him ! 

The dance team provided entertainment for the crowd here is a video of them performing. Other entertainment included music and a Coca-Cola bottle recycling booth seen bellow as well.

The Commuter Lounge is where it's at !

At Southern Connecticut State University approximately 68 % of undergraduate students are commuters. So you would think that the school has some type of area designated for the commuters. Well at our Southern there actually is, it's called the commuter lounge. The lounge is located on the main entrance level of the Adanti Student Center. Towards the back you can find the lounge. The commuter lounge is deck out with lunch tables and a TV station. The best part of the lounge is the game room. The game room has four pool tables and a ping pong table. When i first came across the lounge it was during freshman orientation. But when the school year started i came across it again by accident. Yeah ! I said accident since i forgot that the area ever  existed. But early morning you can find dozens of commuters relaxing, talking, or completing school work. From my personal experience the people that are regularly in the lounge are very nice and outgoing. If you are a commuter or a person who wants to play pool of ping pong come by and see what the Commuter Lounge is all about for yourself.

Above to the right is a clip of the commuter lounge that i recorded.

A ! for Amazing

After exploring through my INQ classes blogs i came across a collection of great stories. One blog spot that i came across that had an impeccable series of stories was Sam's Blog. Her campus safari caught my eye because of her fitness center photo. As i began to read her post it stole my attention, she explained how she had already possessed a gym membership in her home town but she suspended it in order to join Southern's facility. She explained that the price was 60 dollars/semester to join "a bit high" but pretty reasonable compared to other gym's in her area. She talked about classes that the gym offers and she even talked to already members of the gym. Where they explained that cycling class was extremely challenging but that she should try it. As i continued to read this awesome post she informed me of the times that the class and fitness center ran. Sam also informed me of the equipment that the fitness center had. This information helped me a great deal since i was eventually planning on signing up for a gym membership soon. Visit Sam's Blog http://www.samb214.blogspot.com/

The next blog post i came across that was exceptional was Nina's blog post about Southern's Day of Service. In her post she wrote about he experience in participating in this community event. She talked about where she was stationed for the day which was West River project. She said that her groups task was to help clean up the path that was full of debris left by Hurricane Irene. "We worked in pairs, so part of the time I would hold the bag and my partner would throw stuff in or she would hold the bag and I would pick up the trash" said Nina. Nina also explained how fun the event was how fun it was to help the community. Once the group was finished the trail looked a lot better from 2 hours ago. Nina describes a feeling of happiness in her help to clean up. Although i did not participate in the Day of Service this past weekend i due plan on participating in the next upcoming Day of Service event. This post was very well written and made me feel as if i was there with the group holding the garbage bag or picking up debris.  Visit Nina's Blog http://ninab214.blogspot.com/

Lastly Krista's blog post about Multitasking Madness was another well written post that i read. In her post Krista summarizes  the article Debunking The Myth of Multitasking.  She explains that the author discourages multitasking, simply because it makes you exhausted. Krista says when she's at work she is constantly multitasking. When she is doing homework she says she has to have music playing or the television on. Her constant switch tasking she explains takes a tole on her " I will admit both my mind and my body are exhausted at the end of the night "  says Krista. After reading this article i found my self able to connect with Krista. I found a similarity in our work and study habits we both work at jobs that require multitasking and we both listen to music when doing our homework. Visit Krista's Blog http://kristadel.blogspot.com/

Are you a Sneaker Head ... Do you like Hip Hop ? Well i have something for you

What is up my Southern Community im back with another blog update. So today i am basically writing about two proffesional blogs that interest me most. I have a couple in mind but i will share the top two that interest me most. Which are, The shoe game and worldstarhiphop.

Sooo ! i guess i'll start with The shoe game, this website is a website that updates the world on new sneaker releases. If you are a Sneaker Head you should check this website out it lists the newest releases almost months before they drop. Me personnaly i like to keep up to date in order to snag something FRESH ! i also like looking through the sneakers and appreciate the art !

On this site it not only provides an image it also provides a background on the shoe. Another nice feature is, the site allows you to join the shoe game community/to become a member. Once your a member you will recieve emails to update you on a hot NEW release! When your a member you are allowed to leave comments and connect with other Sneaker Heads.

Here is the "LINK" if you wanna check the website out ____ http://theshoegame.com/ ____

                                                                                                                 Another website that i enjoy visiting is http://www.worldstarhiphop.com. This website was introduced to me by my cousin about 4 years ago. Ever since then i've been hooked to this website. Why ? you ask, well it has alot of interesting things on this site like rap videos, funny videos, new videos and alot of other miscellaneous videos. Worldstar is basically a video blogging website, people send their videos in and they are uploaded for the world to see. I use this website mainly for new music mostly hip-hop/rap.

1 New Message !

Today i read an article called "Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction" on the New York Times website. The article talks about how technology is affecting the brains of the young people. In schools the use of computers is becoming MORE & MORE a part of everyday learning. Since schools are implementing the use of computers to contact teachers via E-mail or to teach lessons online etc.

At Woodside High School, the schools prinicipal, David Reilly introduced classes on using digital tools to record music. He even  found money in order to provide the school with ipads and a multimedia center. This man has taken it to the extreme in my opinion by "BABYING" his students, when he pushed first period back to 9 a.m. As Michael Rich states "The worry is that we're raising a generation of kids in front of screen whose brains are going to be wired differently."


To be totally honest technology has become a big temptation for myself and many other young people. For example Vishal, a 17 year old from California admits that the virtual world interferes with his real life assignments. He was suppossed to read a book for summer reading but instead he took a short-cut by obtaining the summary from Youtube. “A book takes so long i prefer the immediate gratification,” says Vishal. Instead of taking time to read he'll rather play 10 hours/week of video games and tinker with video editing software. This just provides proof showing how technology has become an ADDICTION.

Personnaly i sometimes let the temptation of the computer break me and i visit Facebook and Worldstar. Instead of avoiding the temptation and doing what is more important. However im working towards not being dependent on computers, and video games. Overall this article was very interesting and opened my eyes to what is really going on in the 21st centurty.

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein

Thanks for the invitation !

 

On Wednesday September, 7th myself and my other hundred peers were invited to the new student convocation. This event was to welcome US freshman into the Southern Connecticut State University community. What did i think about it ? WELL it was a bit interesting for the most part. I'm sure everyone would agree that Dr. Stanley gave an excellent attention grabbing speech. Throughout his speech he provided his expectations/advice and what we should want for ourselves. One piece of advice that provided was to not end up with a 1 point something GPA. Overall the ceremony was a success in my opinion, alot of interesting things were said that i plan to implement in my life.

Higher Education #COLLEGE

What is college ?

col•lege Noun – An educational institution or establishment, in particular. Is how the dictionary defines college, but to me college means a variety of things. For one college means Higher education, two, college is a gateway to a new life. In my intermediate family I am the first to attend college. To me college is imperative in order to break the cycle and provide myself a better life. In the future I want to become an ophthalmologist and college is the first step in order for me to get into medical school. I plan to stay at Southern for about 2 years or just for my undergraduate education.

So far college is a little confusing to me, I guess that just a given when you attend a new school. Since you’re trying to figure out what’s necessary, what is demanded, what teachers are good and what teachers aren’t. As time goes on I think that college will become clearer to me. Southern seems to have plenty resources for their students which is great. The people here so far are pretty nice and courteous. My professors seem very genuine and they are also very attentive and helpful which is always good.

Goals that I have for myself while in college are to maintain a GPA of 3.8 or higher. I know that obtaining this GPA will take a lot of hard work and resilience. I’m ready to work hard and show resilience to any outside forces that aren’t beneficial to my college success.  Another goal that I have is to participate in the college community and to meet new people.

As for my college classes I expect to learn a great deal I expect for the classes to be taught well and for them to help me grow intellectually and creatively. I expect for my professors to be open and able to answer questions that I have. I expect for my professors to expect commitment to their class and for me to know what is due and where to go for help.

5 words that describe me

Athlete

At an early age i participated in sports. My first sport that i ever played was football. I played for the New Haven Steelers Pop Warner team. Throughout High School i played football, and i ran track. In the photo to the left is me (#41) in Hamden High School's Green Bowl game. Sports are a major part of my life. They keep me buisy and i like to compete.

Artistic

Art is a talent that i possesed since a young age. Generally i like to sketch and paint. some mediums i like to use are pencil and pen. Through art i have had many accomplishments. In elementary school i was placed into the Talented and Gifted Program for art. In High School i created a painting/ drawing that was placed into an art magazine. Art provides me a peace of mind, its a gateway to another world.

Comedian

Making people laugh is something i like to do. Alot of people have told me that i should do stand up. From my family to friends they all say "you are too funny." Comedians that i enjoy are Kevin Hart, Bernie Mac, and Mike Epps.

Friendly

Alot of people tell me that i am a friendly and outgoing person. I guess im so friendly because i like to make people feel comfortable. I enjoy meeting new people. Some things that contributed to me being so outgoing are sports and extracurricular activities that i participated in in High School.

Gamer

Video games are something i enjoy. Video games are one thing i can do for hours. My favorite game to play is Madden. My favorite game system would have to be ps3. Sports games interest me more than games like COD.