LC 22

Hello my name is Anthony Theodorou. I actually have five names, something you may not know about me, Neophytos Anthony Raymond Francis Theodorou. I’m a very relaxed guy who’s calm most of the time. I like to just go with the flow.

Some things about me, I like to play mostly every sport. Except for basketball. But my favorite sports are fencing and handball. I used to fence on my high school’s team and I just like to play handball whenever I can. My favorite subject in school used to be math, but that may be changing from how things are going so far. My sociology class is still terrible. I have no idea what’s going on and there’s so much to read that I don’t understand.

Overall college isn’t that much different from hs. I still just travel in with the train then leave when my classes are done. There’s no dorm life to get used to so everything’s going fine. And what I like most about Baruch is that it’s in the city. There so much to do around here it’s amazing.

College is going well but I wish my grades were a little higher. I’m trying a little harder now to get good grades and that seems to be helping. I love having Fridays off because two day weekends go by too fast. Theater class is interesting and we get to see plays. Things I like consist of dancing ballroom and hip hop, learning the Spanish language, music, reading Polish magazines, shopping, traveling although I haven’t traveled to many places, and spending time with friends and family. I like being outside a lot because it can get loud at times with two younger siblings in the house. Also, I liked working as an administrative assistant in an envelope manufacturing company. I got to experience how it feels to work a 40-hour week, tiring but I really enjoyed the experience. The bosses and other workers were really nice and I practiced some of my Spanish with them. When I talked to some of them, we talked in Spanish. I love the language and perhaps hope to be fluent in it.

During this workshop, we were presented a couple of useful tips on how to approach an interview for a job the right way as well as how to write a great resume. To be more specific, that workshop was really helpful since writing a resume is not an easy thing to do, especially for people who had never done it before. I’m definitely going to keep in mind all the tips as well as what STARR has to offer. I am now aware who I should ask if, for instance, I want to have a mock interview or work on improving my resume.

The panel was conducted by a couple of speakers – one of them was Charles N. Li. They were talking about their life experiences what I found quite interesting. As I well remember, topics Charles N. Li covered were the most interesting. I expected him, however, to talk more about his early life experiences. Speakers were focusing mostly on the subject matter of identity of people having varying backgrounds. I had several, I believe, interesting thoughts on this matter myself as well.

My name is Maciej Niewczas.  I find my college experience in New York quite different from the one I had in high school, especially since I attended high school in Europe, nearly 4000 miles away. I definitely would not be where I am now if not for the two people who are probably the most important people in my life; I’m talking, of course, about my parents. What I especially appreciate about them is that they have always attempted to understand my actions and tried to support them as much as they possibly could.

I consider attending college a huge opportunity to meet new people that I can possibly get inspired by but whom also I would inspire myself as well.  Being in college, obviously, is the opportunity to get to know the real world and see whether one likes it. It’s likely the most important time in everyone’s life as decisions that are made right now will arguably affect our life for the next couple of decades. Thus, college is not only a stressful place because of all the papers we have to write, but more importantly because of the decisions we make every semester that somewhat constrain our future choices. This is why, I feel, it is crucial to think more than twice about what we are really willing to do in the future and stop calling it a ‘job’ to start with. It will never be just a job, if it derives from passions and interests. For enjoying your life to the fullest is something each of us should think about when getting up every morning.

How do I identify myself? I don’t really know. I tell people I’m a short pyromaniac that plays solitaire and Tetris and gets sick very easily because I really do like solitaire, Tetris and fire and I get sick so often it’s a running gag between me, my friends and my family. Also, my 13 year old sister is about two, maybe three inches taller than me. My friends find this hysterical because they’re all taller than me.

I like fire­– fire’s fun. So is playing solitaire, Tetris, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Oh, also, Mario. Mario’s awesome. I also like to sleep. Sleep is good. I’d like to sleep for a living, but if I did that I’d probably just be dead or hanging out with Leonardo DiCaprio and the rest of the Inception gang. I don’t think that would be a good idea considering I have asthma and my projections would be a little too weird. And quite possibly Canadian.

Some of the things I don’t like include school, work and learning. I just don’t like having to actually put in any form of an effort– I’ll do it if I have to, but given a choice, I’d choose not to. I’m a very lazy person and I am very proud of that. That is, until my procrastinating ways make me lose sleep or become extremely stressed out, in which case I’ll hate me and my lazy ways. I absolutely hate mayonnaise. I don’t know when or where the hate started, but I do know that I think it’s weird and disgusting, the smell of it is icky and I hate it when my friends try to trick me into eating anything with it. I don’t like writing essays– at all. Well, no, that’s not true, I don’t like writing essays unless it’s on a topic I find enjoyable. Like, for example, my twelfth grade research paper. My English teacher let me write about the history of the swastika, which was fun because I really like the symbol and I hate it when people act all offended when I say that the symbol isn’t evil or bad just because of the Nazis. 

Anyways, what roles do I play in my life? That’s a tough one. If I have to pick something, I guess I could say I’m the obstacle that stands between me now and my future. I’m really the only thing standing between what I want and how I’ll get there because it’s like Lit says “I am my own worst enemy”. I mean, at first I just did what I was told and that’s how I got through life. Now however, I’m expected to make my own decisions, my own mistakes to get to that end goal of a successful life, which to be honest, scares the crap out of me because I’ve spent so long as a marionette that to have the strings cut so quickly makes me feel like I’m going to sink, not swim. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t know how to swim either.

Who’s the most important person in my life? I’m going to have to go the way most celebrities accepting awards do and say my mom. Obviously without her, I wouldn’t even be here. Not my dad though, he’s an ass. My brothers and sisters are important too because they’ve helped me a lot in my life and helped me become who I am today. My sister-in-law helped too, so she’s important. I’d also have to include my friends– at least the ones I’m making an effort to keep in my life like Cynthia, Serina and Princess Bride because if it wasn’t for them, I might not have made it through High School with what’s left of my sanity.

College life is good so far. The work is ridiculous and I can’t really keep up with the speed that the classes are going but I should get the hang of it soon. Sociology is really confusing though. Biggest challenge with school right now has to be the amount of work we’re getting. It’s the worst thing because there wasn’t a transition between no work and lots of work, they didn’t start us off nice and easy, they just kind of threw us in the deep end and told us it’s up to us to sink or swim. It sucks and I really wish that they would have taken some pity on us poor lowly freshmen and given us some floaties and I think  I’m taking this metaphor too far.  I’m starting to miss high school. That’s a little scary.

One thing that I dislike is when my sisters are constantly behind my back calling out my name for no particular reason or for the smallest reasons such as “Can I have a loose leaf paper?” or “Can I go to the bathroom?”. This really bothers me because whenever I’m trying to concentrate on my homework, they distract my thought whenever they talk to me.
Things I like are going online, chatting, texting, reading (the books that I like), and taking walks. I don’t get to go outside much due to babysitting my sisters, so I take every opportunity I can to go outside and take walks or go out and hang out with my friends. I find it relaxing since I don’t have to be in a room with kids constantly screaming on top of their lungs.

College so far isn’t that bad, but it isn’t the greatest either. I enjoy the three day weekend I get every week since I don’t have Friday classes. But I’m worried about what to write on my paper for one of my classes. I get to meet new people and make new friends and aside from worrying over my paper, everything else is going fine.

Our second workshop was with the STARR career development. The representatives did a power point presentation about how to write a resume and tips about what to do before and after the interview. I found it very helpful because I never know that we should email the interviewer back within 24 hours to say thank you. The representatives also talked about the way we should present ourselves, that is, the way to dress. They gave out copies of templates for resumes and told us about how we can go and get help at the Starr career development center if we have trouble with interviews, resumes, career paths etc.

Overall I think that the panel was relatively good because Charles Li was talking about many of his ideas and opinions about life. What surprised me what that Charles Li is in his 70s but he looked like he was in his 40-50s. One part I liked especially was when someone had asked Charles Li whether or not his life would be the same if he was still in the slum because I was wondering about it too. I also liked about how the other speakers were talking about their experiences and their perspectives of things. Although it took up most of our lunch time and we had to rush to eat, I think the panel would be more enjoyable if there was more time given.

I feel empowered when I pretend to be in action movies. Come on, almost everyone had a fantasy of becoming a protagonist in a movie. Saying Yippie Ki Yay Mootherfucker, and killing ruthless terrorists was one of my dreams. However, if I had done this in real like, I would probably end up in prison for rest of my life. However, I had fulfilled this fantasy through laser tag. Yes laser tag may be dumb, but it is so fun once you’re into it.

For my  senior class trip, our class went to a funplex in upstate NY. Because the whole place was rented out for our class alone, everything was free and unlimited. Including lasertag. My friend and I, who were into action games, decided to take up a notch. We pretended that we were actually playing a First Person Shooter. When one round began, we moved together as a team, gave covering fires, dominated upon girls who had no idea what they were doing, going into different vantage points to gain advantage and waiting for our next prey. Even though it was a short day, it was enough to fulfill our fantasy of being in an action movie.

It was a time when I felt empowered.