LC 23

First, one of things that I like myself is my name “Han-Sol.” My name was made by famous Korean Buddhist monk. As he made my name, he said my name will be widely spread out. I really believe that vision and hope it will become true. Another thing that I like myself is unconditional love. I never try to hate somebody. I try to give kindness and to be friendly to people. I don’t want to make any discomfort and hatred between my relationships. The things that I don’t like are timidity and shyness. I don’t usually stand in front of people because I worry how people think about me or laugh about me. I try to fix those things because I just realized standing out to the people rather than being nothing. Another thing that I don’t like is that I am a poor talker. I always spent most of time of conversation to listen to another and I don’t speak to people a lot.  These days, I try to talk first and to lead a conversation that I can make.

            Thing that makes me happy is vacation because I don’t have to feel stress for doing class assignments and I can enjoy my hobbies all the time. My friends and family make me happy. When I have hard time, they are always by my side and try to help me. Every time I am with them, I feel really comfortable and cheerful.

            In school, I think I’m still adjusting to this college. It is hard to manage my time to do too much class assignments. I spend whole day for doing class assignments and readings. Sometimes I procrastinate and just finish essays and assignment one day before the due. I need to spend my time to complete my assignments first and enjoy rest of my time to do my hobbies and to hang out with my friends. I want to make many new friends because most of my high school friends went to other colleges. So I think it is a chance to meet new people.

Hardworking is important to me. Even though I have ability to reach the highest goal, it is difficult to achieve a goal because I don’t work hard. My mother always told me that I can do everything I want if I try harder, but if I don’t, there will be nothing I can do. So I try to make effort to achieve my goal.

My motto is “Reality is Wrong Dreams are for Real” which means we shouldn’t give the reality because our dream will come true in it. It tells me that I shouldn’t mind what other people think of me and I should keep dreaming, but without escaping from reality

Kimberly Delgado’s speech was my favorite because it was inspiring and motivating. I especially liked the part when she spoke about the stereotypical role of women and she refuses to live up to it.

Hi, my name is Sandy Liang and I like to read, listen to music and take long walks on the beach… No, I’m just kidding. This is not a “About Me” section on an online dating site. But anyway, my name is Sandy. Ever since Junior High School people have called me Sandy Cheeks. You know, that squirrel from SpongeBob? At first I didn’t like to be called a squirrel’s name because I found it insulting. But then I thought, why not? Sandy Cheeks is pretty cool. I’m talking about the character of course. I’m not speaking about myself in third person, because that would just be weird… But that squirrel knew Kung-Foo! How awesome is that? Although I did find it funny that I was being related to a squirrel that was an expert in Kung-Foo, since I’m Chinese and all. But sadly that stereotype cannot apply to me because I do not know the art of Kung-Foo. Disappointed? I know. I did try to learn when I was younger though. My grandfather tried to teach me. The first thing he made me do was a horse stance (demonstrate). He wanted to see if I had strong legs and firm feet to stand my ground. I was in this position for about an hour. My grandfather decided to test me by coming up behind me, and kicking my right leg. I, of course, fell right to the floor. That was the first and last attempt he made to teach me Kung-Foo because, according to him, I was not “made for Kung-Foo”.  Thanks a lot gramps! *Thumbs up*.

It’s a disappointment that I don’t know Kung-Foo. But I do know how to play volleyball, and I’m pretty darn good at it too! Most people would look at me and just assume that the sport I must be great at is… handball. But no, sorry to disappoint you again, my favorite sport is volleyball. I was part of my high school varsity volleyball team for both my junior and senior year. In my senior year, I was captain of the volleyball team. We’ve had our wins and our losses, but, honestly, those didn’t really matter to me. I know it sounds cliché, but I just love the game. It’s so much fun. Whenever I have time, I would go back to my high school and help out with the present team. My high school coach knows how much I love the sport, so he gave me the position as the part time assistant coach. I get to help out AND play my favorite sport. Isn’t that great?

Volleyball really is my “getaway” from all the stressful things I have to deal with everyday, like school and… well, mainly school because it really is just so stressful. Don’t you agree? (Pause) The assignments just keep on coming, and I hardly have time to do anything I want to do. I think volleyball is the only thing that’s keeping me from going insane! But I got to do what I got to do, right? And school is just something I got to do. It feels like torture being in class, or when you’re in the process of typing that long… long essay. But the way I look at it is that it will be all worth it in the end. What I always tell myself is, “Endure the crap now, and better things will come later.” Many people compare life to a rollercoaster, and I do believe life is like a rollercoaster because there will always be its ups and downs. Some days I may feel miserable, but I believe, it is with no doubt, that something great will eventually happen and it will make up for all the “crap” I’ve endured. This is just something I tell myself to keep me going, and not just simply give up.

Well, I found it difficult to write a monologue about myself, but hopefully you all learned a bit about Sandy Cheeks, and enjoyed it as well. Thank you.

My name is Victor Huang. If I could find the right words to describe myself, I would say that I am very outgoing, but only to an extent. Generally at first I can be really shy and timid, but once you get to know me, I’m no longer shy. A lot of people including my friends say I’m very helpful towards them. I cannot always agree with them, because I sometimes find the time and the need to irritate my friends. Furthermore a lot of people say I’m humorous. I find this true, but only to a small degree. Most of my jokes are nothing more than toilet humor. In general, I always hold an uncertain outlook on life; this can be the result of school, where I’m usually uncertain with the course material. The school year at Baruch is going decent so far, as I expected it to be. College is different from high school because the teachers don’t baby the students. Every student is responsible for doing his or her work. I got adjusted to this already in high school, some of my teachers were vindictive towards the students and I will never forget some of them who completely changed my views on school mostly in a negative way though. The workload is too bad considering the fact that I do absolutely nothing at home anyways. In my high school, there was a lot of work to do. I’m glad I actually did most of it because it made the transition from high school to college easier.  My main challenge in college at the moment is calculus class. Math terrified me in my junior year of high school so much that I decided not to take it in senior year. Merely passing the course will probably be satisfactory with me. Another challenge in college is paying for the textbooks, these textbooks are extremely pricey and mostly no more than a scam to trick students for their money and thus make the publishing companies more rich. But I digress, at some point the textbooks will be required for class, but most of the time I buy used ones solely for the fact that they are cheaper. I decided not to rent textbooks because they come at a high price and they cannot be sold to the incoming students of next semester or term. I’m planning to sell my textbooks once I don’t need them. At the same time, I feel cheated because once you pay for the textbooks; you let the seller acknowledge that you, yourself are willing to pay an outrageous amount for a textbook. I feel exploited because of that. Another thing regarding economic issues is student debt. Fortunately my parents could pay the tuition without having to take out a loan, so I’m in a good spot right now. Credit card companies think they can appeal to me with their advertisements, but I know the scheme behind credit cards. With this in mind, some people can categorize me as cheap. I’m not offended by this and I actually find this to be absolutely true most of the time. I was raised to be cheap, so I can’t really deny it and I don’t. Being frugal in this economy has many positive benefits. However there are many benefits to college as well. The most important is more freedom. In high school I was bombarded with work to do, but now its not the case with college… yet. The free time allows me to sleep more at home, and I cherish every moment of it. Hopefully in college, I will learn to be more disciplined as well as more independent and hard working. Currently I have a job on Fridays, when school is not in session. This job should make me more independent as well. Commuting to Baruch College is not an issue for me most of the time because I live pretty close to the school compared to most people, hence why I chose this school instead of Hunter College, which was my second choice. I really identify myself as a New Yorker, especially when commuting to school: I would always pretend to mind my own business when in fact I always stare at other people when they are not looking. In addition, I always find the urge to look at other people’s newspapers when I’m in the subway. It is really just a part of New York City culture and cannot be explained in more precise terms.

Hello everyone, my name is Kimberly, which is a pretty common name; especially since every school I have been to have always had a multitude of Kimberlys, which often caused some confusion in class. Every time the teacher would say Kimberly, I would feel my heart jump only to then realize that the teacher was referring to the other Kimberly and not to me.

I come from a family of five, which includes my mother, father, brother and sister. My sister recently graduated from Queens College and my brother is on his third year in Hunter College studying history. Both of my parents are immigrants from Ecuador and have lived in the United States for over 20 years. My father had to come here through illegal means when he was 19 because he believed that the United States offered more opportunities than in Ecuador. He pretended to be the son a wealthy man in Ecuador who was visiting New York for vacation.

Fortunately, I was born here in the United States and I’ve been working hard, at home and school, in order to compensate my parents for their continuous effort to raise my siblings and me. It has been difficult for all of us, especially in school, because none of my parents know English very well. The highest level that my father completed was the 5^th grade because he had to start working at 10 years old to support his family. My mother was only able to complete high school and then married my father. Therefore, my siblings and me had to learn things on our own. I, personally, learned to overcome this challenge by spending more time studying than was necessary. It is still a challenge for me but my family gives me the motivation to keep moving forward, a motto I try to live by. I believe that if one aims higher, they are able to achieve more even if they don’t reach their target.

Despite the many challenges my family faces, we always endure our hardships as a family. When deciding what college I should pick, a huge factor that determined my decision was my family. I was offered a full scholarship to go to Vassar College, but I decided to stay at home because they are the ones who give me the support I need to keep going. I contribute a lot to my family by cooking for them when they get home late and maintaining the apartment. To be honest, the part I enjoy most of my day is being able to go home to see how my white fluffy dog. Chico and how happy he gets to see that I’m home, and also spend time with my family.

Most of my life, I was looking forward to start college in order to get a good education and have a career. I want to financially assist my parents so that they can have an early retirement. Being in college has made me feel empowered because I feel that I’m closer to achieving my dreams, which at this moment I have no idea what that is.

However, I sometimes doubt my capabilities and intellect because I don’t always get the highest grade that’s possible but I learned throughout the years that life is not always about winning but about trying your best and having faith in oneself. One must be proud from where they come from, which is why I am extremely proud to call myself a Latina, working hard to achieve my dreams regardless of the obstacles society tries to impose. Even more specifically, I am proud to be a woman because I will not allow myself to become a housewife nor be objectified. My parents did not sacrifice themselves just to see me live the same fate of the women back in Ecuador. I will always maintain and support myself without the help of any man. Although, I am very quiet, I always try to maintain my dignity and prove to myself and others that I am more than what I appear to be. My parents took a risk to better secure my future and I plan to make them proud.

my favorite speech was rezwan’s. It seemed extremely honest and down to earth.

I also liked Lucas’s because of his energy and hansel’s because of his jokes.

I like Kimberly Delgado’s speech. she looked confident. what’s more, she had good eyes contact with us. and her speech was inspiring.

Lucas and Victor both did a great job at humor sence. we enjoyed their speeches. they had kind of magic to draw everyone’s attention.

hello again, I am zhuo,xiaoli. time flies,we have been studying in barch for more than one month. it is just like yesterday that when we got together and playing” I have never ever” game. but now, mid-term is coming, tests are coming. tension replaces  happniess. anyway,we will get used to it.

I came from China, and I am fuzhounese. my father went to new york when I was 3. I even could not remmember anything. following my father, I came here last december with my mother and older sister. family reunion which was my dream came true.

to be honest, the biggest challenge for me must be the language. for me, english is still a new language. i need to spend two times longer than you to understand the same article or writing the same topic essay. what’s worst. sometimes, i can hardly express myself comfortablely both in writing and speaking. i got a bad grade of my first english paper. but i do not feel depressed.it’s just a process.

i wanna share my “empowered”thing with you. I remember clearly that when I was a freshman in Chinese high school. because some terrible things happened to me,which made me can not focus on my study. finally, I got a 38 out of 150 in my first math mid-term exam. this grade is almost equal to 2.5 out of 10. but i still didn’t care about it . since then, when my classmates were talking about math, they would laugh at me, which made me shamed and angry. i start to reflect and made up my mind to study hard. finally, my math got a great progress in one term effort. almost every math exam, i could make it A. I felt invincible and powerful. it’s true that  where there is a will, there is a way. as long as I believe myself and never give up. things can go well.

To start off let me just tell you who I am. I am a former ballroom dancer who likes expressing herself through the movements of the body and music. It’s the only way to take myself away from the hardships of reality and fall into the fantasies of my dreams. I enjoyed dancing, going to competitions, doing my make-up, and designing my dresses. Unfortunately, that part of my life ended about two years ago when I experienced some difficulties in my last partnership. Now I am just an ordinary girl who goes to college and tries to get her ass through this world. When my dance career was over, I became very bored with my life and did not know what to do with myself and my time. Just imagine having a major part of your life taken from you. One day it’s there, and the next… it’s gone! I became almost depressed. There was no longer enough excitement in my life!

Well, now you might ask, why didn’t I go back and look for another partner? And the answer is not as simple. Max and I were truly amazing together. We connected very well with each other. We were fantastic dancers and held together for over 2 years, with wonderful results. We traveled a lot around the US and the rest of the world. We’ve been to States like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Utah, and also traveled to Germany for one of our international competitions. Competition after competition we showed constant improvements. Basically such success made a great impact on me, and once we split, I completely lost the spark! I miss it tremendously! The other reason why it’s difficult for me to go back is because it is an extremely expensive hobby. The lessons, the make-up, the shoes, the dresses, the participation in competitions, the travel expenses: all of these things cost BIG money! And by BIG I mean that we saved enough money for a downpayment for a house over the course of one year that I wasn’t dancing! So now you have a little clue of what professional ballroom dancing really is.

To cope with the loss of excitement, I started looking for a job. I became a cashier in a hardware store called Doody Home Center. This was, and still is, my first and only job. Despite the attitudes of certain customer, I love it there, because of great coworkers. We are like a family, no joke. Recently I was promoted to a little bit more serious position – a salesperson. I am a helping hand in putting out stock and keeping the displays neat and organized. However, as much as I love this job and don’t ever want to leave, I want to become someone important and successful in the field of business. When I graduate Baruch, it is my goal and dream to become a business woman; most likely an accountant. I want to work at an elite firm in NYC and be well known by many eminent organizations. In order for me to do that, I need to work intently, participate in many extracurricular activities, and graduate college with exceptional grades. But so far, the 1^st semester of my 1^st year here, it does not look too good!

Through the years, I have become a very joyful person. I am very outgoing and love company. In the summer, not so much now with college and loads of work, I used to go out to party every week, if not twice or three times a week! That’s how wild I am and the amount of energy stored in me is totally limitless. I am also usually satisfied with mostly anything that comes my way. If it’s something that disappoints me, I try to make it work, or in any case cope with it, and understand the fact that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON! There have been many incidents in my life that taught me to be optimistic. They helped me realize that there is no point in wasting the precious, limited time on arguments and regrets. My motto came to be “Joy of Loving, and Love of Living.” I love because I enjoy loving; not because I am forced to love. I love learning new things, falling into different situations, figuring out the solutions, and living my life to my fullest potential. I try not to waste any second of my life, because I want to become someone influential in other people’s lives!

I really enjoyed Lucas’s speech! He was very enthusiastic when he talked about himself. The jokes inserted throughout, made the monologue very interesting and kept the audience involved. From that we can see that Lucas has a great sense of humor =]

I also like Victor’s presentation. He was very chill speaking in front of the class. I admire that, because I know it is very difficult to speak in front of a group of people. Personally, I hate public speaking, and I respect the fact that Victor could do it with such ease. Just like Lucas, he is very funny, and knows how to entertain people.