Author Archives: James Chang

My visit to the Rubin Museum of Art was exciting. I actually ran around the whole museum because i wanted to see everything since i had a limited amount of time. There we statues of weird looking creatures and tribes. There were so many different colored, shaped, formed statues of mystical beings and of people that were worshiped. The museum instilled fear into me because i felt overwhelmed by all of the powerful historical artifacts that might as well been possessed by demons and spirits. I think i have a 6th sense since i felt the presence of spiritual beings next to me in the museum, which is one reason why i was running. But overall the visit was intriguing and i would definitely visit again, but with an companion.

The Career Exploration workshop has taught me how to write a resume and how to speak professionally in front of interviewers. Writing the resume was more complicated than i had thought since there are so many different types of resumes. The material written inside the resume varies upon who the resume is for for example if your applying for a job as a doctors assistant you should put in experience related to being an assistant of something. The wrong thing to put in is your work experience in McDonald’s, Burger King, Popeyes, or KFC because these things have nothing to do with the job your applying to. These fast food jobs don’t give any experience since they are considered dead end jobs. What you should put in is your experience in assisting a teacher or a tutor since these help communication skills and leadership skills. The interview after your resume is read is the second part of the process of getting a job. If the interview goes horribly wrong it is almost guaranteed you aren’t getting the job. If you cannot answer the questions the interviewer gives you that shows that you are incapable of taking on the job. The most interesting part is that the interviewer actually has a set of questions that tests each aspect of a person within the boundaries of the job. They have a grading list and percentage, like a grade on a test. If you pass you get the job, if you fail you don’t get the job it’s that simple. There are so many things that gives someone the necessary skills to act professional, speak professional and react professional. A quick thinker that knows what he is good at and bad at is someone that people want to hire. No one wants a perfectionist nor someone who doesn’t have common sense or thinks out of the box. I had an experience once where i was interviewed. She had asked me several questions relating to the job i was applying for. The questions that i had most trouble with were the things i needed to improve on or something i thought i was not good at. Appearance, the way you speak, the way you react, the way you sit, the way you shake someone’s hand are all factors in being successful in an interview. The Career Exploration workshop had given me many different sources and websites in which i could attend these workshops and events so that i can get an internship, a job i need in order to gain experience for my major or career in the future. There are so many different types of internships that i don’t even know which one to choose. These internships can be paid or unpaid, but of course the importance is not in how much you can make in the internship but how much you make when you get a real job after you’ve gained the experience from working in a internship program.  The workshop helped me develop a better self.

Charles Lee was the most intriguing speaker out of all of them. I was very happy that someone with his experience was there to deliver his message to the students of Baruch. I respect him as both a professor and a person from within my own culture. His stories captured my attention and his struggles reminded me of my own family struggles. One thing that i thought was funny was when he forgot to speak into the microphone and kept talking without realizing no one could hear him. He is so modest and funny and it shows that he is a great man with many words to say. He is both intelligent and experienced in his work. The rest of the speakers each delivered their own stories that meant a lot to them in their lives. The Bitter Sea had reminded each of them of the struggles they had within their career as well as the stories that had caught their attention and changed their view on the world. Their stories have reminded me of my own struggles and the struggles within my family. The story of the ship reminds me of my great grandparents struggles while coming into the United States. They had to endure the pain, poverty, and loss of family. Everyone had been separated when they had come here in search of more stable and safe environment as well as a better opportunity for their future generations. The panelists and the author of The Bitter Sea had related their life stories and struggles; career struggles, family problems, and other life changing situations. The Bitter Sea develops a struggle within the boys childhood and his gradual change as he ventures through life. Through his adventures finding his identity while making new friends he discovers the negative aspects of life, the struggles and poverty of China and the relationship between his parents. As he grows up he starts to understand that his parents are going to divorce and that his father did not love him but rather more concerned about his work. The only one who truly loved him was his mother who had become a nun in search of a better life. These realizations and struggles can be related to everyone, especially with the lives of the panelists who described their problems in searching for jobs and completing their academic career and how they had become successful and lived a valuable life. It is truly amazing what these people have gone through. The panelists come from all different parts of the world, have traveled across the world, have seen the struggles of life in different parts of the world, and the adventures these places have to offer them. Each of them lived valuable lives and are happy with what they had to go through since they have learned what it takes to live and prosper. The lives of everyone is complicated but with the right mindset anything is possible and everything is accomplish able with a little inner strength.

I used to be a shy person until I met my first girlfriend. She made me who I am, an adventurous, thrill seeking, and open hearted guy. I love going out and engaging my life in social activities. I like mountain climbing, hiking, bicycling, motor boating, fishing, skiing, swimming, cave exploring, sky diving, anything that gets my heart pumping. The most recent activity I’ve participated in was white water rafting in the Poconos with my hilarious friends. There was 5 people seated in my raft but somehow we ended up with 1.

Everyone gets on the boat with a lifejacket on and we carry the raft into the water and we all jump into it. We reach our first rapid, it wasn’t that big but we managed to crash into a rock so we all had to get out onto the rock and push the boat off and quickly jump back in because we were scared the raft might leave us. The water turned calm so we all jumped into the water for a swim and it was freezing. Another raft came by our raft and there was a crazy guy who had a big water squirting device that squirts water at 20 miles per hour so it felt like we got punched in the face. He squirted everyone and we all screamed in pain but it was funny. We reach the 2^nd rapid and this one was the most insane one because we literally crashed every rock and we had to hold onto each other’s hand. One kid almost fell overboard and hit his head on a rock. The 3^rd rapid was the funniest one. We had a bucket in the raft for our stuff like clothes, food etc. I thought water would’ve gotten in so I opened it. I didn’t know the boat turned sideways and the rapid was right behind me since my back was facing it and my friends didn’t notice either. We crashed into a rock and I fall backwards with the open bucket. I basically poured everyone’s stuff into the water. 3 people jumped off the raft to save what didn’t wash away. No one even bothered to pull me back up into the raft. My brother lost his shirt, and our food which consists of dumplings, big Macs, cheeseburgers and bacon and cheese sandwiches were just floating down the rapids. The people left in the boat also jumped off further down the rapid to save stuff they saw. The raft was abandoned except my brother who was shirtless. We were then picked up on by one by oncoming rafts behind us, and thankfully we all met up again in the calm waters.

At the end of the trip we looked like fried chicken, golden to the crisp. We all laughed at each other and we all had our group hugs. Even though my brother was angry and everyone else was angry at me for losing their food and clothing we all had a good time.

I am who I am, a person of many interests and interesting ideas. I love to be active in anything that can be productive in my life including sports, informative events, and life threatening stunts. I love to go on adventures and somehow risk my life. I have a type A personality and I am an introvert type of person. I am a very organized person almost to the point I have Obsessive Compulsive disorder. I love keeping everything tidy and planned because I hate doing things last minute. I am also the type of person who wants to be with a lot of people for example social events like parties or clubs. I love doing anything that involves interacting with friends and family. I am a people person and I love to work with people no matter their age. I think I am more than friendly since I am the type of person who would help anyone in times of hardship or problems. If a friend needed help I was the first to respond. I value friendship over anything other than family. I am a very competitive person as well as someone who loves to share ideas. Most of the time I get criticized or ridiculed but I’m used to that from all my English teachers. For some reason I love a good argument, I always express my ideas and there’s always someone there who would tell me I’m wrong. I’m not afraid to express my ideas no matter who I am faced to deal with. I am who I am and no one can change that.