The world so big The world so big and I’m so small!
so many possibilities but where to start?
should I become a doctor? No. I don’t like chemistry
Maybe work for the FBI? No, always in danger and no time for family.
Choosing is so hard! Hmm, let’s see what do i like…. I love thinking analytically, I like to play musical instruments, I like to sing, I like to make music. Maybe I should go in to show business. But show business is a very dirty, unstable, and intrusive business. Paparazzi all over the place. Probably not for me. However I absolutely love to draw! Especially cars. Oh how I love cars! Ever since I can remember, I always loved cars. My favorite was Ferrari. Of course I didn’t know much about different types of cars and wasn’t exposed to all of them. But every where I would go I compared every car to the Ferrari. I even promised my mom that when i grow up and become rich i will by her a Ferrari. I love super cars the most! Their aggressively elegant design, the roar off the engine. It gets me all hyped up! I start to imagine driving the all new 2012 Lamborghini Aventador 509 lb-ft torque with 690 horses under the hood 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds. Maxing it out on the track! I wish that I could some day create a car like that!
Maybe I can. Just maybe I will be lucky enough to get a position in a big car company such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin! Designing beautiful cars that are wanted all over the world! That is my biggest dream!

When I stood there at the end of senor year of high school with my deploma in my hands, I couldn’t help but be any happier. Admitidly, it was because I was happy that I was getting out of there rather than being happy I passed. I loved hanging out with all the people I knew there and all the fun things I did at Tech but I could not stand the classes. I didnt see how any of those classes could help me in the future so I could have cared less.

Coming to Baruch I was very excited and couldnt wait to start my college life. More than wanting, I needed the freedom and responsibility that natrually came with college life. I never liked being told what to do and in which way to do it in school so I was happy to have the freedom to do things the way I wanted to and to not feel constrained.

Now that im here studying at Baruch I realized that I need to start being more productive and not slack off. There just doesnt seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done anymore and I need to mamage my time better and not procrastonate while studying.

I also have to start thinking more about my future and where I wanna go in life. I cant stand working under other people so I cant really have a normal job and I always see lots of people who work everyday, day in and day out, and many of them absolutely hate their jobs and are unhappy. Those things motivate me to want to start my own business in the future so that I can do some thing that I love and enjoy everyday instead of being unhappy and doing something I dont like for a living.

I hear stories of people who are old and on their death bed wishing they could relive their life. I dont want to end up like one of those people, I want to live my life and not have any regrets and be happy.

Present: 10/19/11. Post by 11:59 tonight or 10/20/11?

Getting to Know Me as a Person:

I’m irresponsible, forgetful, with no sense of time, so I knew college would be a challenge for me. My personal motto is to live with no boundaries in being comfortable at home. Sometimes, when I feel like it (I know so childish, right? ‘I do what I want, when I want, if I feel like it), “comfy mode” extends when I’m outside, especially since my mom isn’t here to nag me. I can drink from the bottle, eat noodles with a spoon, ice cream with a fork, and leave my dirty clothes on the floor. I think home is for free expression; outside for common oppression–people trying too hard to make a good impression.

Quiet, family, friends, Parliaments, and alone time is important to me: especially alone time and Parliaments. If I ever meet someone that will give me a life-time supply of these cartons and proposed to me with a ring around several sticks, with the beautiful recessed filters pointing upward, I would say yes in a heartbeat. Learning is hard for me, so taking notes is important to me, because without the actual act of writing something down, I wouldn’t remember anything I heard that day. I feel like I might get Alzheimer by the time I’ m 30. I also need to take pictures of things (store fronts, campus buildings, street signs, subway stations, bus stops, etc.) that I know I will go to again, so I can remember it: I feel like I’m in the movie Momento when I say this 🙂

I’m afraid of the cold (subzero temperatures). I’m afraid of large groups, like this one. I’m afraid of spiders in my bedroom because they might crawl into my mouth when I sleep. I’m afraid of not understanding because all the words I don’t know become one big question mark. I’m afraid of the color orange because it’s ugly, and it’s just red trying to be more yellow. I’m afraid of quizzes and tests because I usually fall asleep the night before cramming for it, and I feel like I get a heart attack the second the teacher slips the paper on my desk. I’m afraid of math, because math sucks–I have a t-shirt that even says so. I’m afraid of being independent and growing up.

There’s something that I hate to admit. I wanted to say it in my paragraph of things important to me, but I couldn’t, so I’ll say it here. My mother is very important to me. I never appreciated her before, until I was forced to do things on my own: laundry, food, alarm. I’m coming to terms with realizing I’m an adult now and everything I do will affect me.

I haven’t been hanging out with Baruch students much, including you guys. I mostly befriended SVA and Kings College students. I’m sorry LC13 classmates if I’m always tired, loopy, or distant. And for you LC13 non-smokers, I’m sorry for my disgusting habit and if I accidentally blew smoke in your direction, I’m really sorry.

Ever since Professor Kaufman suggested I drop the class, which I did, I’ve been trying to get my shit together. One of my friends already dropped out of college within her first couple weeks here. I need to start taking schoolwork more seriously.

-Mandy Chan

Who am I? Well to be technical, I’m an 18 year old Korean boy who shares the same name with the man who parted the red sea. But really, who exactly am I? What makes me different than all the other people around me? I have two eyes, one nose, and a mouth just like everyone else in this world. If that’s the case, what makes me unique? When I was young, I asked my mother, “mom, who am I?” The answer she gave to me was, “well son, you’re the apple in my eye”, “So I’m an apple?” Of course when I got older I finally understood the idiom. If I’m not an apple, then who am I? When I got admitted in Baruch College, I was expecting to find myself, to figure out what distinguished me from others. The minute I walked into Baruch, I saw a bronze man sitting on a bench. Who is he? Next to him, it said Bernard Baruch, founder of Baruch College. Wow, I wished I had a bonze board that engraved who I was on it saying: Moses Kim: the… (I actually have no idea). Apparently, discovering who I really was the most difficult task. If only there was an answer that can be formulated after an equation was solved, like math. I like math. Moses plus Kim equals, well I don’t know, I said if only is there was an equation that could be solved. But of course, the world doesn’t revolve around math.

Here’s another question, what do I want to be? I’m convinced by my parents that I want to be a lawyer, but do I really want to be one? Do I really want to follow the laws? Well, I do but it doesn’t mean I will. If I see that the street is empty, I would drive through the signal lights regardless if there is a red light or not. Law says you can’t J walk but hey, everyone does it. Especially me. I don’t give a crap. It’s not like officers give out tickets to J walkers or anything. What if I don’t want to be a lawyer, what would I be? Well, I like to eat; maybe I should be a food critic. Free food, who wouldn’t want that? The problem with that is, I might get more obese than I already am and I wouldn’t like that. I like to collect shoes; maybe I should open my own shoe department. With all these online companies that sell shoes for a cheaper price, although they’re fake, who would buy my shoes. In the end, I realized money matter. Maybe I should be a lawyer. This monologue was to prove that I have no idea what I want to be or who I am. Hopefully by the next 4 years, no just kidding. I meant to say, hopefully, by the end of this year, all my questions would be answered.

-Chorus-

These are my confessions

Just when I thought I said all I could say

My freshmen sem.’s got a monologue on the way

These are my confessions

Guys I’m thrown and I don’t know what to say

I guess I gotta give my confessions of a student

-Verse 1-

Now this was the hardest piece I’ve ever had to write

Got me ramblin’ to myself who the hell am I?

I know I’m not that chick Usher was creepin’ with

Definitely not three months pregnant, but I’d keep it

The first thing that came to mind was my high school

The second thing was my family and friends in my life

Third thing was me thinkin’ that I am who I am

How I’m so ready for college and bye bye to my dear high school

-Chorus-

-Verse 2-

Sittin’ here brain dead student, tryna’ figure out

Who, why, and what my life is about

Said it ain’t gon’ be easy

But I need to stop thinkin’, stressin’

Be myself and live my life

I’m chillin’ with my friends

Laughin’ till I cry

Studyin’ for tests

And bein’ a regular college girl

I open up my life and I have freedom

I said “hold on a sec., should I get a tattoo?!”

-Chorus-

This is one of the most embarrassing moments of my life

To tell you, my swag seminar

That I’m the weirdest person you could meet

I hope you can accept the fact that I actually did this

And hopefully you’ll talk to me again

This is about my career

This is about my happiness

It’s about my life

Thank you

I do it big, I’m on my college flow

I’m on the elevator to the top floor

And I won’t put this pen down ’till my hand’s sore.

Trying to be all I can, that’s what I aim for.

Music is my life, what else can I say

I think about it, dream about it, everyday

But they never let me gain ground

My words were too heavy, that’s why they put me down.

It’s all good, I forgave them

Put my feelings down on the paper, scared them

They thought they had it coming to them, but I spared them

Waste of time, I’m a cookie monster, they’re a cookie crumb

And I don’t have blood cells

My heart pumps music while you’re spitting blank shells

And I don’t make the game, I just play it well

The story of your life collects dust on my bookshelves

Try living in my shoes,  it’s tug of war

Sometimes I feel like I can’t do this anymore

It’s not about the money or the VMA awards

I’m just trying to save rap ’cause it’s on life support

Watching all these artists crucify my passion

Rapping ’bout money and cars they never had and

All the while they be driving in a Volkswagen

They dream about dropping 28’s on a Black Benz

Damn, all you care about is rhyming

I focus on the meaning and the rhymes become a side thing.

That’s just the way I do this

I don’t need to rhyme to make your ass look stupid.

Time to wrap it up, vote of thanks, thank you God

Shout outs to my mom, dad and grandma

Stunting on the clouds, I’m so fly, it’s a new year.

I’m signing off, boss junior.

I’m usually not good at expressing myself. My thoughts are too random for anyone to understand. So I thought that it would be easier for me to make up a fake character for this monologue, but I decided to make a monologue that best portrays the “real” me. Unfortunately, I’m not entirely sure of what is real and what is imaginary. I would think to myself, “Am I making this up?” or “Is it really me?”

This is getting too complicated. Anyways, I’ll just go on talking about my current thoughts.

There’s been so many thoughts going through my head lately but the strange thing is that I can’t specify what exactly these thoughts are. Trying to figure out what is going on in my little, complicated brain of mine has been one of my many problems. However, I tend to forget easily and forget about my problems. So I end up never solving them…But the worst thing is that I am so aloof. I don’t care about anything! My friends will say that it’s not a bad thing but it’s not really a good thing either. And I agree with them.

It’s good that I don’t really think too much and end up stressing about it, but it’s bad that I’m ignoring how I feel. That’s why a lot of my friends call me a robot. And I realized that I could really seem like one! “Whatever, I don’t know, maybe” these are the most common words in my vocabulary. I guess they do seem very boring and unenthusiastic.

These days when I end up talking to new people, I end up describing myself as a robot, and they end up saying “WHAT?” or “WTH?” and I laugh and give them my own logical explanation.

Some people say that I’m not a robot, but my best friend says I am and she knows me best, so I just go along with it.

Well the first time someone told me that I was a robot…I was well…confused? and a little bit offended. I thought to myself, “Am I really that boring?” or “Do I seem like a heartless person?”

But I found it quite amusing and unique. It’s actually pretty cool. I mean who would ever call themself a robot except me. It’s my own thing I guess.

Its funny, I’m also the awkward one in my group of friends but they say that I’m also a “weird, funny awkward”…whatever that is.

“LOL” I like saying these Internet terms out loudly…is that awkward? But you know what?! I think weird is cool. Actually, being weird is freaking awesome.

In my opinion, plagiarism is the saddest from of mimicking someone. When you plagiarize your telling the world that you can’t produce anything you are proud of, or you are not willing to, so you have to copy someone else’s work. Not only is it sad you feel you have to resort to using others work, the person who actually wrote it is being cheated out of their work. Ethics is something that is hard to define, I know what it means and how to use it in a sentence, but it is hard to write out the definition off the top of my head. Dictionary.com says it is a system of moral codes. Plagiarism is ethically wrong. I am not sure exactly the rules in college for plagiarism if you get caught, but I am sure they take it seriously. If a teacher at my high school caught a student, plagiarizing it would be put on your permanent record and you would get a zero. it’s probably much much more extreme in college, I assume you would get suspended or expelled from Baruch if you were found cheating, and if not you would defiantly get a mark on your permanent academic record which would be a huge red flag for other schools or even jobs in the future. No one respects a person who dosnt respect themselves enough to create their own work, something that has never been created before.

I’m That Girl

Why am I such a clutz?

That girl that you see always falling, tripping, bumping, dropping, walking into things…? -Yeah thats me.

A pretty common question people have is, “Whats your most embarrassing moment?” Well, personally I feel like I could write a book on all the trouble I get myself into.

I guess my clumsy nature started in kindergarden, when I walked into a wall and ended up with a huge bruise in the middle of my forehead. That was a fun time, with the guidance counselor calling my parents to make sure I wasn’t abused.

That time when I was learning to ride a bike and I ended up crashing into garbage cans.

The time I visited my grandma at work and knocked over a couple of glass figurines, breaking them of course.

That time in San Francisco when I walked headfirst into a stop sign, because I was trying to walk with my eyes closed. Another bruise smack-dab in the middle of my head.

And who can forget that time in Canada where I ran out of a restaurant and thought the door was open but ended up crashing into a glass door in front of everyone.

There’s also that time in fifth grade when I slipped down the stairs at graduation…only me.

The times in junior high when I sat in gum in the schoolyard, and ruined my nice pants. Yeah, time(s), plural, because of course I did it twice.

Then there’s my personal favorite, that time freshman year in the cafeteria when I was carrying a frappucino…and I slipped and it ended up on my head…what a great day it was, walking around with dry milk and caramel in my hair.

11th grade, when I was walking in the middle of Soho, texting, and I crashed headfirst into a pole. Yeah I even heard a ringing noise.

Oh ! and the time at my friend Chelsea’s sweet sixteen where I knocked over glasses of water three times in a row, in front of the guy I liked. How fun.

Yeah I’m that girl.

Growing up, I really thought I was a disaster magnet. I really don’t mean for these things to happen but…yeah I guess I am a bit of a disaster magnet.My clumsy moments define me, I think. Having so many teaches me to laugh at myself because honestly everyone’s going to be laughing at me anyway, so I might as well join in.

Who am I?

I follow my ways, my beliefs, and anything I find reasonable according to myself. What’s a man without his opinions? Nobody, that’s who…and I’m not that. My ethics are important to me, in fact, they’re my guidelines to my everyday life.

Don’t expect respect unless it’s given. Never hit a girl, unless she’s crazy and trying to kill me or something. There’s too many to think of. Although, there is one extremely important one, the one that’s my biggest guide.

I remember back in high school, when I just realized how unjust the world was. Then I wondered, “Why do bad things always happen to people, including me?” That’s when I first started getting into the whole idea of karma.

Karma. It was just a belief back then but today, one of the guidelines to my life.

It’s logical. I mean, it has some real life value behind the idea, it’s not just superstition. Like, if I randomly walked through the hallways in school and punched some kid in the face? I’d expect the possibility of getting hit in the face one day, most likely by him or one of his friends.

I use just the idea of it too. What goes around comes around, that’s specifically what it is to me. It’s why I would never cheat on a girl or try to talk to someone else’s girl, even if they were on the verge of breaking up. I wouldn’t want someone doing the same to me, so why do it to them? Karma is just me playing my small part in making the world a bit fairer.

I don’t like being the kid who “looks like that guy” or “talks like that guy.” The point is, I don’t like being similar to others. I just feel like there’s less attention towards me when I’m one out of the two, or three or more, rather than just the one and only. Then again, I’m not going to lie, I am similar to some people in some ways, but not because I want to be. That’s never the reason why. I try to be as unique as I can be, but apparently some other people just happen to take the same turns in the same direction.

I can be a hypocrite at times. But it’s not like I’d purposely contradict myself. If I know I’ve gone and been a hypocrite, I’ll admit it. When it comes to things like that, like arguments, I’d rather accept my faults and lose. It’s more of a benefit to me, at least I get to walk away and know I’m the bigger person. Besides, there are just some people you can’t win against, like my brother or dad. They don’t even know what they talk about half the time when they’re arguing, but they’ll still argue. I guess I learned that lesson the hard way.

Who am I? I know who. I’m nobody else.

Who am i? I am so tired. College has proved itself to be more challenging than i would have imagined. I can’t keep up with hw, classwork, I’ve missed exams already. I dropped a class within a month and a half just to lighten the work load. It didn’t help though. I’m worried now. I’m off to a bad start and i think it’s too late to do anything about it. I’m getting stressed out. I’m sleep deprived. I’m tired. If i fail, a class I’m gonna be screwed. I am trying really hard, even though it might not seem like it but there’s not much more i can do honestly. My English professor probably hates me by now. I’m missing homework, classes and handing in papers late. It’s not even about time management anymore, theres just simply not enough time in the day. With work and school, i can never catch a break. I’ve distanced myself away from friends and family, started smoking again. I feel like a mess. I feel broken. I’m not functioning right. Yes, it’s depressing, but theres something that my dad used to tell me. He used to say,”Boody, whenever your walking through a storm, just smile.” “Oh wow Dad… thanks.” I need help. I am so tired.

Hi Mandy,
I’d like for you to BLOG on OUR class’ blog about your thoughts on Ethics, Plagiarism, and the ramifications on a college campus if you are caught cheating.
The blog post needs to be at least one paragraph long so that I can count it towards your class participation.
-Jordan

…

I think the consequences of cheating in college is not worth it. Many students can purchase essays online, or buy old tests, hire classmates to do homework for them, and get a semester’s worth of notes from upperclassmen. In Anthropology class, Professor Pinnock said she was grading the gender assignment, when she noticed that a student wrote a really good essay, except, when she got to the last paragraph, it was plagiarized. Pinnock was talking about how it’s really pointless to try to plagiarize because you will get caught, and it will be on your record. You might as well just hand in your own work, if you really put in the effort, that’s all that matters, because at least it’s your own work. We’re all paying for college, paying to learn, so don’t pay to learn how to purchase essays, actually do the work, and if you can’t, then don’t hand in anything at all.

Ethics are laws and morals that one individual follows. Part of ethics is the rejection of plagiarism. Plagiarism is taking someone elses work and claiming to be my own. Cheating on a college campus may help you obtain that high score on your exams or your final grade but overall, its only cheating yourself. I used to think i could cheat in college because i used to do it in high school. I would always think to myself, “why do we need to learn this? It’s such a waste of time.” But its different in college because its completely different. I think that the things we learn on a college campus helps us in life and helps us to focus. Cheating would get us no where because we would not be learning anything. I feel like college experience would be different if I cheated myself through the entire college life.

Moving to NYC was a transition. Not only was I a freshman all over again, but there was no one to wake me up, no car rides to school, no home cooked meals, and worst of all I was on crutches because of my torn ACL. I knew that Jay-Z  said “and since I made it here, I can make it anywhere” but to crutch around NYC for a month and a half, there was no way I could do it. At that specific time in my life the only line I could relate to from Empire State of Mind was, “city is a pity, half of yaw won’t make it.” Despite my challenge I knew that attending college in New York City was something I always wanted to do, and I wasn’t going to allow for one ligament to stop me from achieving my goals. Everyday that I woke up I made sure I took three things with me; my faith, my book bag, and last but not least my crutches and knee brace, it was my daily routine.

My faith has always been an important part of my life, but during this time in my life I needed it more than ever. After the first night that my mom dropped me off at my dorm, I could not fall asleep ! I knew the city was nothing like New Jersey, but I thought there’s no way in the world someone needs an ambulance every 15 seconds, or that one person could single handedly wake up one street by blasting Rick Ross. I wasn’t home sick, it was just a new environment and I had to be more independent. Without my faith I know that I wouldn’t have lasted as long as I did.

I’m sure we all know that one person who turns their purse into a suitcase or that one person that brings like 10 bags with them when they only need one. Well let me tell you I am that person! It was as if I had turned my book bag into my purse, my wallet, and my lunchbox. I was shocked that I had developed this habit but as I mention it was a part of the transition. The less that I carried the easier it was for me to get around the city with crutches.

The very last thing I made sure to grab everyday was my knee brace and crutches. The most difficult thing about the knee brace was that it took over my entire leg and messed up the other pant leg, specifically near the zipper. One day I went to fix my belt and realized oh crap! I have a hole in my pants!  It was then that I knew it was time to get rid of these crutches and buy a new pair of pants.

Although my first month and a half of college was probably one of the worst times of my life, I’ve come to appreciate the struggle. Subway stairs, waking up early, and large amounts of reading all helped me to appreciate where I am today, and that’s college. Had I not come to Baruch I wouldn’t of met some of the amazing people I know today. My roommate Iyana, my teammates Alicea and Sheridan made crutching one of the funniest things ever. Not only were they helpful in helping me to get around but they also gave me the nickname of “broke leg.” Now that I’m back on my feet and used to the loud music at 3am, subways, and dollar pizza I can honestly say that I have an Empire State of Mind.

Saturday Oct. 15th–Community Service-cheering station for Avon Walk for Breast Cancer (10:30am – 2pm) *mandatory…class bonding
location: Abingdon Market Bleeker Street & 8th Avenue (paperwork coming soon!)

Wednesday Oct. 19th–Monologue performances in-class (hard copy needs to be submitted to Jordan)

Thursday Oct. 20th–Blog #2 due(Monologue) needs to be posted on the blog also

Thursday Oct. 27th–Major & Minors Fair during club hours in the multipurpose room (room 1-107) attendance optional but encouraged

Wednesday Nov. 23rd–Last LC13 Freshman Seminar class with Jordan; Jasmine’s 19th Birthday; PARTY!!! =}

Enrchment Workshops:

Tuesday Oct. 18th–Enrichment Workshop #1 *MANDATORY: Jhumpa Lahiri reading event 5:45pm room 14-220

Wednesday Nov. 9th–Enrichment Workshop #2 (during class time, walking trip to the Rubin Museum of Art) *mandatory

Thursday Nov. 17th–Enrichment Workshop #3–Voices IV show (during club hours) *mandatory location: TBA

Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
From Dead To Worse by Charlaine Harris
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris
Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas
Chief Culture Officer by Grant McCracken
You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Push a novel by Sapphire
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
1984 by George Orwell
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Tartuffe by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere
Angela and the Baby Jesus by Frank McCourt
Barack Obama “We Are One People” by Michael A. Schuman
The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle:The Thing Beneath The bed by Patrick Rothfuss
What Every Woman Knows by James M. Barrie

-Jordan

Hey its Erick, wondering if anyone is interested on doing two Anthro study groups. One before the test of course and one before Tuesday’s class just to establish those “question” the Professor wants us to have. The articles were long so I think I missed a couple of main ideas but a study group on Tuesday would be a helpful refresh.  I kinda just wanna go over terms and people we think maybe on the test because those things really haven’t been discussed in the last two classes for the last couple of articles.

a) My names Abdel, also know as Boody. I’m Egyptian. There’s not much to know about me really. I moved to the U.S when i was 2. I grew up in Sheepshead Bay. Recently moved to Bensonhurst. I graduated from Brooklyn Tech. I was on the Brooklyn Tech Handball team. I work in a restaurant. That’s about it.

b)main concerns:

1. Managing my time, since i have a busy schedule. Between work, school, other stuff, i have little time for myself.

2. Getting to class on time.

3. Doing homework and studying and stuff like that.

c) Baruch is pretty much exactly the same as high school. Except of course for the two and a half hour breaks and sushi bar. I think joining a frat will enhance my college experience. Also i hope…i don’t know

d) I think my first year at college should teach me better time management. Also i think i will be more responsible with assignments and do them ahead of time, so i don’t have to put together a bunch of crap in 10 minutes ;[