Blog #7

My first semester of college was a great experience. I always expected college to be very stressful (which it was at times), complicated, hard to handle. Mostly because of what people older than me would say. But, shockingly, I'm safe to say at least I made it through it all. My classes were all difficult in their own way, and even easy as well. I had a mindset before starting this semester, that I would not have to study for a class more than another. Boy was I wrong. All four of my classes had to be practiced, studied, and needed a huge amount of attention. Each. The only time a class would be classified as "hard", would be if I procrastinated or waited until the last minute for all and every assignment. Which literally would be almost everyday towards the end of the semester. Most of it was due to laziness or I just did not care anymore. Deep down I knew I could make it, so I'm continuing to finish out strong. The things I gained over the semester, would obviously be new information from all classes. I am proud of how much I learned from Medical Terminology, I thought I would never be able to recognize, pronounce, or even memorize those terms. Of course its only the beginning for me, I still have a million more terms to go. I also gained a lot more confidence in myself. College taught me, that there will always be times where you feel like you just cannot continue on, or you feel the urge to "give up" all because of one grade. But, you just have to know and understand how to get back up and fight for your goals and dreams. Things like that does not come easy, it requires hard work and dedication. I will fully take that motivation with me throughout my college career, and even life itself. Throughout all the doubts I had during this learning process of this semester, it made me think of how dumb I sounded and why I acted the way I did towards classes. I would complain about the work that was assigned or how I did not get enough sleep. Next semester I know for a fact there will be an complete difference from this semester. My thinking of certain topics or suggestions have grown a lot. I find myself really excited to talk about things I understand during class sessions. Just getting that feeling of finally understanding what has been taught, and can precisely recite it back to the professor or class in your own words is amazing. and it shows in your work, once you see good grades on assignments, it helps keep you focused and motivated to want to continue making those same grades. My professor played a big part of the role this semester as well. Without them, and their commitments they made to all of us including myself, I don't know how I would manage to continue on the semester.

Blog #6

Manohla Dargis from The New York Times, in her review "Once More to the Well of Goofball Comedy", offered a negative review of the film Step-Brothers. Basically, the movie is about two over grown adults in their early 40s becoming stepbrothers. While they both act like they're kindergarteners, they soon realize they have a lot in common. Actually, there is a reason as to why they both act like children. I wont say too much for those who haven't seen the movie yet, which I hope you will if you ever need a good laugh. I researched well enough to see as to why she thinks of  Step-Brothers so negatively, it all came down to three supportive quotes. The following quotes represents her thesis as to why she disagrees, "Step-Brothers is nowhere near as good, funny or polished as Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rickey Bobby". Another quote, "The idea of two men of around 40 still living with their folks and addicted to nominally juvenile pursuits seems like grist for the comedy mill or a newspaper trend piece". Finally, the final quote, "In Step-Brothers, Brennan and Dale almost bring down the house by clinging to a delayed adolescence that makes them seem angry rather than playful and joyous. Unfortunately, I disagree with her thesis. I believe this movie is a good, comedic, and hysterical movie. In my opinion, I believe Step-Brothers is entirely more hilarious than, Talladega Nights. Both movies are funny as well, I just so happen to find Step-Brothers more funnier. The way they act in the movie, from their childish moments and tantrums, to when they finally get a reality check and start acting their ages. As for the second quote, I do see exactly what she means. She says they're too old to be addicted to juvenile pursuits. I still have a negative comment on behalf of the statement as well.Obviously, both characters are fictional, and the movie is a comedy so there are going to be some sort of immaturity towards it. Finally, in the last quote she explains how both characters almost destroys their house by somehow "hanging" on to their childhood lives, which I must say I can agree with. Yes, they do get out of hand at times in the movie, act as if they are 7 years old even. From the arguments with each other and majority of characters throughout the movie to whatever else ticks them off. But, as I commented in the second quote, its all comedy so it will not be taken seriously. Honestly, Manohla seems to take humor too seriously or even doesn't tolerate childishness at all. In all honesty, Talladega Nights has some immaturity as well. Both movies have the same main characters, and they also deal with similar subjects as well. Everyone has their own opinion about things, I just don't see how you could think negatively of a comedy movie. I do respect her opinion on it, I just don't agree with it.

This weekend

This weekend is very major, because my grandma who I haven’t seen since last year at my graduation ,is coming and my boyfriend is coming down as well. I miss them both so much, but I felt like it was gonna be a little hard to spend time with both of them, so that’s why I decided to do half and half. On Friday, my grandma came and immediately I ran too her. We talked for about a good hour or so just to catch up since we haven’t seen each other in forever. Then my mom finally came home and we all went out to eat at a little restaurant about 3 minutes away from my house. It was nice for now all of us to talk about old times we all shared together while eating some good food. Once we got back my boyfriend told he we was on his way to college station and I was really excited. He goes to college in Seguin called Texas Lutheran University. So while I waited for him to come down, I continued to spend time with my grandma. She is so crazy and has no filter at times but, that’s why I love her, she never changes for nobody. About 11:30, my boyfriend called and said he was here!! So I immediately got up and left to go over his house. I love going over there, his parents are so nice and warm hearted. Since it was late, we just watched movies and talked to catch up since we haven’t seen each other in a while as well. We were also planning what all we were going to do the next day, and we decided to go out to eat, the movies, and then back to his house. Saturday morning came and I got up, got dressed and went to the nail shop. While I was there it started raining and I really hoped I would stop because, I felt it would ruin my plans for the day. So, it finally stopped right about the time I was leaving the nail shop. Then my brother, mom, grandma and I went to Cotron Patch to have lunch, which was very good by the way. After we left there, we went to the mall to do a little window shopping. Sadly I left out of the mall with four bags of unnecessary things I did not need. After I left the mall with them we finally went home so I could meet up with my boyfriend. We went to eat at Cheddars, which was good as well, then we went to the movies to see A Quiet Place. That movie was ok, for the first 30 minutes it’s oretty quiet (obviously they can’t talk) and it’s somewhat confusing at points m but, I don’t want to ruin it for anybody who wants to see it so I’ll stop there. I ended Saturday night back at his house as we played video games all night.

Blog #4

Amanda Petrusich, in her article "The Lofty Optimism of Spotify and the Influence of the Streaming Revolution", argues how she prefers her music to be traditional rather than modern. She thinks Spotify is pointless and disagrees to streaming but, thinks that Spotify is growing as a business. "Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by these creators". This quote is a great example of her thesis, because it explains how she believes Spotify is growing due to the business and sales they're making through their subscribers. Also, another great example quote would be "Of course, Spotify did not invent creation-nor the idea of making a living as an artist but, since its launch, in 2008, it has changed the way we think about all of those things. My second quote explains how Spotify helps us as people realize that the way we think of music is more about how an artist presents his/her self or whether they can vibe to it or not. Finally, my last quote to represent her thesis would be “The popularity of streaming has lead to obvious changes in how music is being produced- in 2018, a pop song needs to sound excellent piping out of a laptop’s tiny speakers and on headphones- but streaming has also resurrected the idea that the medium through which an album or track is made available is as much an aesthetic choice as anything else”. This final quote helps support her thesis by expressing how people could only listen to song if its energetic.

Me personally, I do not use Spotify. I never really liked the streaming app, I preferred Pandora instead. I must say that I disagree with her thesis, because streaming music is part of this generation, technology continues to grow more and more every day. It helps us as people get the opportunity to hear new music from our favorite artists quickly, rather than waiting several months for an album to drop. The very first piece of music I owned or continuously listened to would be Hannah Montana’s “Just Like You”. When Hannah Montana first came on Disney Channel, I would literally get so excited to hear all the songs she performed on the show. I loved that song so much, I even had printed out lyrics that I would read over and over to fully memorize the song that way I could sing it all I wanted. I also enjoyed plenty of other songs by her as well but, this song was on replay constantly. I owned 1 copy of Hannah Montana’s first soundtracks, which included “Just Like You”. It was gift from a friend that loved her just as much as I did. Then, that same year for Christmas I got an MP3 player, which helped me add on my other favorite songs by Hannah as well. Overall, I believe that streaming is and can be beneficial for all those who enjoys music to be presented right on the spot.

Hello Kitty!!!!

Something that has been very important to me since I was in the 7th grade would be my complete obsession of Hello Kitty. I used to see pictures, objects, and different types of other hello kitty items in every store I went to as a child and I never really cared for hello kitty then. Once I got to Middle School that all changed drastically. I would have hello kitty decorations in my locker, my backpack was hello kitty, and even majority of my binders had pictures of hello kitty in the cover. Then came along my 13th birthday and I just had to have a hello kitty themed party. My mom ordered me a full cake and 24 cupcakes, which were both hello kitty. Just about every aspect of my party was hello kitty. People never really understood my obsession of it back then, to them it seemed that I was too old to be obsessed with a childlike character. But of course, I did not care what other people thought about it. Once I became an 8th grader the obsession kept growing. My mom and stepdad took a trip to Las Vegas and brought me back some souvenirs. They brought me a pair of hello kitty Las Vegas socks (unfortunately, which I lost) a hello kitty nail file, and a hello kitty Las Vegas T-shirt. My freshman year of High School one of the outfits I wore that first week was that hello kitty t-shirt followed by pink hello kitty vans I got that summer. All throughout the rest of High School, the obsession had gotten more serious. As of today, I own 4 hello kitty pajamas (including a onesie), several hello kitty earrings and necklaces, a hello kitty lamp, 3 hello kitty jewelry boxes (one of them is actually a jewelry holder) I also still have my hello kitty vans and t-shirt. Then, I bought myself a hello kitty tank top from south padre, my boyfriend got me a stuffed hello kitty bear, my car is literally almost cover in hello kitty and lastly, I have 4 hello kitty bags. I am currently 18 years old, and still have a crazy obsession but, I do not hope to be in my 30+ years still going crazy over it. Eventually, I will finally get over it and someday cherish all the memories I had and maybe even save them for my future daughter to collect as well.

Blog #2

Our exam #2 was fairly easy and very similar to exam #1, I honestly did not feel any difference rather than the topics we covered of course. I studied a good amount of times, but mainly focused on topics I was confused about or did not fully understand. What I did differently from last exam would be that I actually took a good amount of my own notes that way when I studied I could really grasp the information. Yes, that actually worked good for me. I felt very satisfied after preparing for the test. I came out knowing that I succeeded once again. What all met my expectations was how I had the decency to actually schedule for studying for this test, I knew if I did not I would just wait till the last minute and try to re read different subjects all at once. What did not meet my expectations would be how I kept second guessing myself on some answers. I don't haves any regrets about I wrote down as my final answer, but I do feel that I should be more cautious next time and really decide whether I should keep the answer I had or not. I feel that I will approach future exams similar to this one. I will continue to take notes that make sense to me and only me, that way it can make sense. I will also trust my instincts and stick to an answer as well. Some advice I would give to my fellow classmates for future exams, would be to be sure that you are prepared for this test, not just mentally, but emotionally as well. You want to feel satisfied after taking the test and when receiving the grade be happy to see that your hard work paid off.

About Me:)

My name is Jazmine Satori Veal I am 18 years old and I was born on May 14, 1999, which means pretty soon I will be turning 19. I was born and raised in College Station, Texas and I love it here. My family is very loving, caring, and outgoing. They enjoy helping others and being there for one another. We all were taught how to be kind and generous to not just our close family and friends, but to everyone else as well. I came to Blinn College to begin my journey on becoming a Surgical Technician. I will attend 2 years here, and soon transfer to Sam Houston State University to finish off. I am really enjoying Blinn so far, I am making a lot of friends, I am actually staying on top of my work and catching up if needed. I can honestly say college is way better than High School. I don't feel pressured anymore, I am becoming independent, best of all, I do not have a lot of classes throughout the week. My goals are to become a Surgical Technician while being very successful. I know its not going to come easy, I have to put all into this goal. That's why the first and most important part of my goal is getting a college education. My hobbies include eating, sleeping, and hanging out with friends and family. My favorite candy is Reeses. Also, my favorite soda is Dr. Pepper. And finally, yes, I have one dog. His name is Chico and he is an American Pitbull, I've had him since I was 12 years old, I basically raised him. I would love to eventually have another dog soon.