thursday nov. 19, 2009
On Thursday November 19 I attended the suicide prevention workshop. This workshop was very short (just an hour) but we watched a video most of the time. This was an informative workshop. It taught me how to catch the little things that can determine if someone is suicidal. The most interesting fact I learned was that in college the most suicides occur. Depression and stress are huge factors that lead to suicide.
Spent most of my time there talking to my friend about soccer. Distractions happen. We sort of looked into the Europe section, since soccer is the dominating sport there. Didn’t find anything interesting, since I’m not the biggest fan of going away to another country for studying. I was motly accompanying my friend, but I did get a few interesting fliers from the France and London sections (those were the main attractions I think). I still didn’t change my beliefs that going away to another country should only be A: for vacation or B: moving.
I went to this play a while ago, about husband-wife drama. I didn’t meet any of my block buddies(because I was with my friend), but I did see some of them enjoying the “play”. I say “play” because I came in expecting to see an actual theatre show, and all I got was people reading. The part that I liked: the whole environment and the soothing voice always made me want to take a nap, but I had the strength to resist it and actually listen in. The main reason I remembered the play was because it was used in our philosophy class when we were discussing some moral issues. It was about the wife forging her father’s signature to save her husband, but the husband just fired an employee for doing that. After getting a letter that says everything will be O.K, he forgets about it, and his wife realises that he’s not what she thought he is. She realises that all this time she’s been his doll, you know, the usual family drama. I was pretty bored, I’m not really into theater, but going to a play like this once in a while never hurts.
Probably the most boring and the most useless workshop to me. Talked about resumes/cover letters. Pretty much I wasn’t even listening because I have a lot of experience with resumes, because I always help my mom/dad and family friends write theirs, and my own resume is pretty good. I mean it got me the jobs I wanted, so I’m happy with it. So yeah, after quite some day-dreaming and a good “wake-up” punch on the shoulder from my friend I was one workshop richer.
I believe that was the name of the workshop, correct me if I’m wrong. It’s that 1st ever workshop that we ever attended, the one that we got a card in the mail about. As you already know…the line. When we (me, my friend and a couple of people from our block whom I just introduced to each other) came, we stood there open mouthed. There was like 1000 people all trying to punch in their social security numbers. At 1st me and my friend decided to leave, because going in seemed pointless, but then our Brooklyn senses kicked in and we just simply cut the line. The easy way out. After punching in our SS #s, we were handed little folders with papers about minors in them ( which is something really useful, thanks to those papers I decided to minor is psychology). After going in, since we were some of the 1st people to get in, we talked to this woman (she was explaining what to do with the papers), and then we left. All in all, a useful workshop.
A workshop that I actually DIDN’T regret going to. I can’t say that I learned much, but one thing I gotta say is that I did enjoy seeing so much activity in college. For the first time I felt like I was in COLLEGE (you know, just like in the movies), because before it all felt like a big high school. Me and my friend looked around, saw some interesting clubs, and talked to a few people. I found quite a few clubs I would love to join, but I realised that I wouldn’t have the time for them. There was a Martial-Arts club which got me really interested, but I do Combat Sambo outside of college, so joining the club would only take time out of my schedule that I could use to rest. I’m still getting accomodated to the whole college environment, so there’s always time to re-think my decision. Plus I’m thinking about starting my own club when I have time next semester or later(I was too stupid or too busy talking to my friend to actually ask about the process of creating a club). And oh yeah, just like everyone I thought that break-dancing was like totally awsome.
We saw this play at the Engelman Recital Hall during club hours. But what we found out was that it wasn’t really a play, per se. It was really just a reading. The reading revolved around a wife who had to forge her father’s signature in order to save her husband’s life. This is a big deal because the Husband had to fire an employee for doing just that. After receiving a letter that states that everything will be okay he becomes okay with the situation. At this point, the wife realizes that her husband is not who she thought she was. She realizes that all this time she has just been his doll, his puppet. The readers were actually pretty good. I mean, it wasn’t anywhere near as involving as an actual play might’ve been. However, they did a good job, given the limitations. Next time, I would love to be able to watch a full play at Baruch rather than just a reading.
This is the unique “workshop” because A: I went alone; B: I didn’t know this is a workshop. The main reason I went is because I remember someone (i believe it was some friend’s mom) say that giving blood once in a while is actually healthy. She did not provide any reasons, but I believed her. You know, whatever’s healthy works for me(except broccoli). I decided to just go ahead and get it over with because I’m so super tough and I’m not afraid of needles. After going through the whole process (appointment, line, giving blood) I got a little bandage and left really quick, because I was really,really exhausted and wanted to get home asap. Didn’t feel any healthier, but I’m happy that i did a good thing, and I was even happier when I found out that it counts as a workshop.
PS: Am I the only one who didn’t know that? Because I saw lots of people with their planners and I remember someone asking me about mine but I was too tired to actually think about it.
Well, here I go. First I’ll explain something: the only reason i got my 6 workshops is because my best friend(he’s in another FRO section) basically dragged me to them. 5/6 of them i went with him. The day of the workshop he would remind me that we have to attend it, and persuade me to go with him(because I didn’t ever want to go myself). I never brought my planner(memory problems I quess, plus to be honest I don’t even know where it is exactly, probably lost/left it somewhere or accidentally/intentionally threw it out), I just went, sat, listened, maybe walked around and then left. I’ll go ahead and try to remember stuff we did on those workshops, with as many details as possible (doubt i can remember EVERYTHING). Please be so kind not to judge me too harsh, I’m only human =)
