LC 17

After reading over the freewrites, I thought to myself, “Wow, I was writing such random stuff in my half-asleep stupor.” This just shows that my mind does not work very well in the morning. I’m just going to talk about the stuff that actually made sense.
If you read my blog entry, you can see that I like to draw. At first, I never thought I would be interested in the arts. But I guess my family is mostly oriented into the arts and they probably had a more or less influence on me. Everyone in my family did some kind of “artsy-fartsy” thing.
In Middle School, I was in an “art major.” I didn’t really do much and it was more like a free period. I didn’t learn anything besides the color wheel over and over again. Well, you know in Middle School, students have the attention span of a peanut. It was in freshmen year of high school where I discovered the lovely internet. That was my first time looking at art on online art communities and became so inspired.
SVA, the School of Visual Arts, is only blocks away from Baruch. Whenever I pass by SVA students, I can’t help but feel a little jealous because that could be me going to art school. I feel like I can fit in there more easily along with all the students carrying their art bins and giant canvases. Once I saw a girl with a bag that said “animation major.” I want to do that, too; along with painting, illustrating, and fashion design.
One of my hobbies is making clothes. I haven’t been able to make any because of school. Anyways, when I see something in stores and I like it, I would try to think how to make it easily without paying that expensive price. I believe anyone can do it since all I did was read books and bought patterns.
Sometimes, I feel like a misplaced art student in Baruch. But in the future, I would like to get into art school and actually do something enjoyable in my life.

What represents me? My sketchbook. With an additional "frustration of calculus webwork homework"

Click on the image for a bigger view. I didn’t want to take up this blog’s storage space.

When I walked into the auditorium, I expected the workshop to be very boring and I happened to be right about it.  It was hard to pay attention with everyone around you either texting on their phones or talking to the person next to them.  I could barely hear any of the panelists except for Charles Li.  I was very intrigued by his discussion on identity.  Charles Li basically discussed how our identities shape our reality and anyone can shape their identity based on their actions.  This thought made me reminisce on the “Bitter Sea” and how Li himself had to establish his own identity while going through many hardships and long travels.  Overall, I found Charles Li too be very genuine and inspiring.  Charles Li was the only panelist I was able to thoroughly comprehend and I appreciated his discussion.  It felt like the other panelists were speaking another language from where I was sitting so I found their discussions to be dull and torturous.  Maybe torturous is too harsh a word but besides for Charles Li, I did not enjoy the Academic Enrichment workshop.

Although I did find the SCDC presentation to be boring, I definitely learned some significant information about what the Starr Career Development program has to offer and the advantages I would gain by participating in this association.  The SCDC can assist me finding internships, revising and enhancing my resume, and providing me with mock interviews which are all essential when I go to pursue a part-time or a full-time job.  I was very grateful to have learned about what-to-say and what-to-wear at a job interview because I have never interviewed for a job.  In addition, the presentation covered body language which can have a vast effect on your first impression and even something that seems silly such as the cologne/perfume one wears.  I would advise that next time they find a better way of presenting the information because talking about job interviews is not the most intriguing topic and it was very hard to stay awake during the presentation but overall, it was very informative.

The Career Exploration presentation was, unfortunately, very similar to how Academic Enrichment exercise was conducted.  Failing to maintain the attention of almost anybody in the audience who was forced to attend, this exercise which could have been extreemly helpful wound up being extreemly boring.  The Career Development Center is a very helpful place for those looking for jobs.  Conducting mock interviews and reviewing essays seemed to me like the most important action that is conducted.  I am afraid that almost every other thing offered by them was lost.  If Baruch wants these seminars to be any use to us they have to either make it more engaging, or make it a voluntary event.  If it remains a mandatory event then the same result will most likely occur and people will continue to nap.  (Harsh but true)

The panal discussion that we attended seemed like it had great potential to be interesting.  However, I found that the majority of the panal was a dissapointment.  The Author of the Bitter Sea was quite interesting, while the rest failed to captivate most people in the audience.  I couldn’t help but notice that almost everybody in the audience that was forced to be there turned to the person next to them and started to talk when it was the turn of the other members of the panal.  I have to admit that I did the same along with most of the people in LC 17 that were forced to go.  The questioning of the author at the end was interesting although the way it was conducted made it awkward for people to ask questions to the writer.  I wish I had more positives things to say because it was truly a great opportunity to learn more about Charles Li.

            What I hate the most is not bugs.  It’s not losing.  It’s not even democrat ideals, although that may surprise most of you.  What I hate most is awkward silence.  When I was in high school I was a very shy guy.  Don’t get me wrong I had plenty of friends and a lot of people liked me.  However, I was very quiet at a lot of times.  I am not usually one of those people who can keep talking and talking, I usually have to be goaded to be open.  It is one of the most annoying, not the mention the most frustrating, characteristics about me.  Because it is so hard for me to open up sometimes and talk there is usually that dreaded awkward silence.  Those scenarios happen all in often in my life and the fear of it recurring holds me back from a lot of things. 

            What I love the most is volleyball and my brother Brian.  I won’t delve into volleyball because most people play sports and understand why I love it so much.  But my brother, he is something else.  Brian is by far the weirdest and funniest person I ever met.  He never fails at making me laugh, even if I really don’t want to.  I heard stories from my parents, and I remember vaguely, how they could never punish him as a kid because he never took them seriously and would just laugh whenever they tried.  Not in a malice full fashion like, “You can’t possibly punish me.”  Just in a way that he wholeheartedly thought it was funny.  I miss him the most while I am here at college. 

            I live at the dorms now and it’s great.  There are lots of cool people, in a good area, and right down the street from Little Italy which is any Italians’ dream.  Classes are pretty good, no complaints.  Can’t stay awake in Anthropology, but every other class is good.  I am slightly worried down the road though because when volleyball starts up I will lose a lot of time and might be overloaded.  I would have to practice every day except Saturday or Sunday for several hours every day.  I’m just concerned that when classes get more difficult next semester, which I am predicting they will, I might not be able to keep up with my work.  But that will work itself out another time. 

            The most important to me is not being a jerk to people.  Messing with people is one thing, which I thoroughly enjoy doing.  Being a jerk is something a whole lot worse.  When I was in middle school and high school all around me there were jerks.  People who made fun of those less fortunate than themselves.  People who acted arrogant and treated people poorly as a result.  People who ruined teachers classes and were cruel to the teachers themselves.  I have also been a victim of these activities.  I know what you are all thinking, “How can this tall guy have possibly been picked on?”  I was the only Freshman pranked on Freshman Friday.  I also stopped a bully picking on one of my friends and instead drew their jeers at me.  Jerks suck.  I want to make sure that I never come even remotely close to being one.

What is Important to Me?

Family, friends, school.  These are the first thoughts that flood my mind when I am asked what is important to me.  My name is John Yuksekol and I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.  My mother is Austrian and my father is Turkish; how unique!  I am proud of my diverse ethnicities because not many people can classify themselves with those same ethnicities.  Family must always come first and is what I find to be the most significant attribute in life.  Subsequently, academics have great importance to me.  Throughout my four years in high school, I maintained a 96 transcript average, so it demonstrates that I take my studies very seriously.  I believe what makes my high academic standing even more significant is that throughout my years in high school I participated on the varsity baseball team.  All of your achievements should have importance to you like they do to me.  So far, my greatest achievement was to have success in both my academics and baseball while, at the same time, being devoted to both.  Although I enjoy playing baseball, I am forced to eat, sleep, and breathe baseball.  Since I was the captain of the baseball team in high school, baseball helped me develop leadership abilities that can help me succeed in posterity.  Furthermore, excelling in school and being devoted to my championship team provided me with a great challenge and I take great pleasure in facing challenges.  In Baruch, one challenge I have faced is keeping up with the assigned readings.  Although I am very busy with baseball and work, I “make time” to assure I am able to stay up-to-date with the assigned readings.  I am not going to even discuss the commute because I hate to even think about it.  My social life is essential to me.  Associating with my friends takes away all the stress that is built up from school, baseball, and my family.  I cannot stress enough how much my close friends mean to me.  Without them, I might have gone crazy from all the stress that life has to offer.  What I am beginning to learn in college and what I am finding to be very imperative is being sympathetic towards others opinions.  I must be able to accept other people’s views even though they oppose my beliefs.  Listening and digesting the information that other people provide will only make me knowledgeable.  Lastly, I believe dedication is the most essential quality anyone can possess.  In order to be successful in life, I must dedicate myself to whatever it is I am pursuing.  Whether it is a baseball championship or a job, I must dedicate my time and effort efficiently in order to achieve my goal.  When I stepped onto Shea Stadium for my baseball championship game, a feeling that words can’t describe overwhelmed me.  This was what I dedicated my time and effort towards and it paid off.  I cannot stress enough to all of you how important all of this information I have stated are to me.

The SCDC Workshop was very informative; it reviewed a lot of tips for interviewing and resume building. It was good to be reminded that a resume must always keep growing and re adapting. The speaker was very energetic. I learned that the term “business-casual” means  the same thing as semi-casual. That one should not wear bright colors to an interview and that Interviews begin when you walk in to the building until you exit the building. I learned that the SCDC has a film interview program where one can look back at ones mock interview and hence learn what to and not do. I would like to schedule one…. Another highlight on my list of the workshop was the notion on how to approach the tell me more about yourself question that always drives me to panic and her tips were great, be positive, share an insight and don’t recite your resume. It was also good to be reminded to always have questions and do ones homework on the organization before entering the interview and how important demeanor is. Demeanor being how one conducts one’s body language and tone of voice, good demeanor can go a long way! 🙂

The academic enrichment workshop was great. It was centered around the theme of identity and the panel shared a lot of views. Amidst them how everyone has both the potential for good and bad and how little moments determine who you are; what you value. Charles Li spoke about the notion of reality and one most become conscious of one’s identity and it is built through our current actions and the lack of emotional cultivation that we as Americans/ westerners lack as opposed to East/Asian culture that values emotion. That made me realize how important our emotions are in determining our identity; our emotions tell us what we like and what we don’t and shape us not only via our values but  what we learn when placed in serious situations and how we feel at the moment of and after we act. The panelists also made me realize I have a long journey ahead and that my identity will still be in progress until I die.