FRO 12 Motherblog

I love sports. I played just about every sport there is. When living in Wisconsin, I started to play Hockey. Then I started to swim. After that, I moved to Florida where I picked up baseball, basketball, football, tennis, and golf. Then I moved here to New York and learned how to play volleyball and lacrosse. Out of all the sports I have played, basketball and volleyball are my favorite sports. In the sport of basketball, I played for about 5 years and I don’t think I’m bad, but I still have a lot to improve on. I played on my high school team in Florida named winter park high school (ranked #10 in the nation according to ESPN’s high school ranking charts in 2010). In my high school team was a friend by the name of Austin Rivers; the #10 pick in the 2012 NBA draft, scoring leader for Duke University last year, and son of Boston Celtics head coach: Doc Rivers. He was really good at basketball and during practice, we had to double guard him in order to attempt to slow him down. Basketball is by far my favorite sport and I’ll play anyone just to get some shots up. Not to far from basketball is my 2^nd favorite sport: volleyball. I only played volleyball for 3 years, but it was a sport I quickly fell in love with. With no prior experience, except when I played at my church, I made my high school team my senior year and became a starter in place of the co-captain of the team. My high school in New York, Cardozo, is ranked as one of the top volleyball programs in the PSAL and my school had the most Championships in both Boys varsity and Girls varsity. With the guys team, my coach has a record of 210-4 which is the best record in the PSAL. Although I love basketball and volleyball, I love any sport and I am willing to learn any new sport.

Integrity is something you do not see much anymore. Sure there are “good” people, but even the best of character falter for that is that nature of humanity. Discipline is a key part of maintaining integrity and in our current society, the only type of discipline that seems to be applied is the time-out approach. Self-control is expected of “upstanding citizens”, yet the freedom to do whatever we want to regardless of the detrimental effects of our actions is given and taken advantage of by said citizens. I do not know many who would choose work over leisure either. The consensus seems to be a desire for efficiency in all areas of life: less work for greater profit. This is foolish when applied to interpersonal relations of all kinds other than business relationships. Essentially, I believe that these qualities of integrity, discipline, self-control, and a desire to work are absent from a great portion of society based upon what I have seen thus far from my perspective.

I also find that so many people will compromise what they believe and many will not even bother to hold a concrete belief, but will instead just keep their options open so that they never put their faith in something that will not benefit their own interests. I have asked many people what they believe in and many have told me that they believe in what they can see or they say something like, “yeah I believe there is a God, but I am not religious.” Well, I have also mostly talked to young people so I have little reason to base my analytical conclusions on adults. So it is not fair to say that many people have shaky beliefs since I have not spoken to many adults though the few that I have spoken to have replied similarly to the youth.

I see a great deal of injustice in everyday actions and speech. I hear people readily cursing as if there was something truly despicable and abhorrent to condemn, though there is usually only a meager annoyance or perturbation that has unduly warranted this antagonism. Even in the context of friendships, I hear swear words used as congratulatory remarks and as terms of endearment. Kindness of speech must be quite unpopular. How many times does emphasis of anger require the “f” word in order to get the point across? Vocabulary is also dwindling for that matter, at least in the vernacular because plenty of professional fields exploit advanced jargon. People also often say what they do not mean. Words are powerful and people should be more careful of what words they daily use.

Doesn’t everyone love their own room? It’s like a little bubble you go to at the end of every day to just relax and chill out. It’s where you can be completely honest with yourself and have the maximum level of privacy. Of course everyone’s room is different. My room is the best. I make sure to keep my room at its best – clean, tidy, and odor free because a wise man once told me it’s a reflection of who I am. As soon as you step into my room you will be asked if you took a shower. If you are clean you are free to plop on a squat on my bed or other furniture. If not you will be condemned to the floor. Since my room is a reflection of who I am you might’ve noticed my giant speakers and my one of many New York City skyline wall decals. I love music at its highest levels and I love New York City at night. My foldable bed makes my room look a lot bigger than it actually is and my color coordinated closet is always the way I want it. I don’t keep a lot of things in my room because then it starts to look messy and it begins to bother me. What I keep in my room is limited to only things I need when I am relaxing or feeling lazy. The TV is there for me for those days where I just feel like being snuggled up in my cozy bed. The cologne is there for me to spray all over when I’m going out to see someone special and the door is there for me to shut at the end of everyday when I want all of my privacy.

Yeah, you could consider me lazy. But I’d rather describe myself as laidback, but that’s not really up to me, is it?  I used to wish that I could spend all of my days just eating and watching television.  One day I even told my parents that I wanted to be a professional t.v. watcher!  Yeah,  not such a great idea.  Coming to college however sorta made me not as lazy.  There is an actual need to get off my rear-end and get some stuff done. But not intensely using my brain for four years of high school sort of made me lose some of the magical touch.  I used to walk around mindlessly without a thought in the world, but now a days my head is just jam packed full of things that I don’t even understand.  I didn’t expect college to be this hard and hectic.  I didn’t expect to have to read and study every single damn night.  And I really didn’t expect to have to wake up even earlier than I did in high school.  But walking around Baruch does sort of make me feel proud of myself, being an actual college student and all.  I never thought that finishing up work would be so pleasing to me.  Maybe there was this hidden asian nerd inside of me just waiting to pop out and study.  But besides the satisfaction that I get out of studying, there are some other good things about being in college.  Like the humongous library, and the elevators and escalators, and even the one dollar pizzas across the street.  Some downers however include the lack of sleep, crowded halls, and halal that tastes like a monkeys ass.  I didn’t know that there could be a halal that tasted like cow manure, but I was proven wrong, yes indeed.  Anyways, even though college is hard and arduous and other SAT words synonymous to difficult, studying and working hard isn’t all that bad. And I ALREADY learned one important thing about life from the short time I had in college:  if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, whatever it is you do, that thing is gonna be shit in your life.   So try to have fun with whatever you do, even if at times you do get lazy.

I have never really been able to answer that question for myself. Does that mean I do not know who I am? Not necessarily. It could just mean I am growing as a person, so “my definition” is not set in stone. From what I know, however, I am one person who is not embarrassed easily and is laid back. Why should I hide the real me? I speak my mind (at the right moments) and feel not everything should be taken serious, so relax and let things go.

My concern for this year is the workload, my grades, and the teaching style of each professor. I am not so use to having to have a large workload every night. My old teachers had an understanding that we had homework from other classes so they did their best to try to make our lives easy. I feel stressed in every class I walk into now. My grades are not up to where I would like them to be, so I am stressing out even more. It seems I will not be able to get away from the stress. I also have to learn to understand each teaching style. Some professors have a “different” way of teaching so I have to try to either understand or learn the material myself.

I have noticed many differences in Baruch compared to my high school. I immediately noticed the students carried themselves in a professional manner. My high school was filled with drama and fighting and I was not too into it. College kids also are not as clique-y as high school kids, so I am pleased with that. I pretty much could not stand my school so Baruch is a big step up.

I do not think college will change me all that much. It is somewhat hard to change a personality that is stable. I do not want to change now that I think about it. I just hope college can teach me some things to better myself.

My name is He Lin, and yes, I’m a college freshman now. If  you want me to describe myself, I would say I’m enthusiastic. I love to make new friends, and help others. However, like everyone in my generation, I’m also very very lazy.(that’s probably one of the reasons that I’m writing this blog late) I will wait until last minute to do my assignments, I hate to study and all of that. Moreover, I love to relax and chill, and play around all day long.

The first main concern I have about college is my grades. I want to get at least a B+ avg, and I’m not sure if I am able to acheive my goal. It may seems easy, but it is not an easy task for me since I don’t like to study and do work. The second concern I have is making new friends in the new environment. By making new friends, I can be more comfortable in the society, and do a better job. The last concern I have is related to my firse concern. I sleep all the time in all classes. I need to stay awake in order to get a good GPA.

After a month, I think my college experience is very similar to what I have in high school, except that we have less classes. However, with a such huge community, I believe I will socialize more in the school, and meet more friends. In addition, this is only my freshman year,  thus I’m looking forward to my next few years in Baruch.

Definitely, I will gain lots of knowledge after the first year of college. Yet, I think my personality will also change in many different ways. I’ll become more mature and more responsible, and it will be one of the most important year in my life.

Ah, yes, “Who Am I”: The title of my favorite Jackie Chan movie! Let’s all go up the stairs of the tallest buildings in our vicinities, and yell it out! “WHOOOOO AM IIIIIIIII!!!?”

But honestly, who exactly am I? In scientific terms, a member of the species of the most complex carbon-based life form on the planet. Yeah we can go with that…..But personally, in my own terms, I’d say I’m an..interesting character. Varied likes and dislikes. Political views on both sides of the spectrum.  Supportive to those close to me. I’m responsible when it comes to classwork. I like seeing things through to the end, and put all my effort into virtually everything I do.  I used to be a very relaxed person…”used to” being the key phrase. Nonetheless, I do like my free time, which I mostly spend with friends, games and the like. I know that I’m definitely a person that wishes that every day had a couple more hours in it.

My primary concern during college…grades. Grades. Grades! I need to maintain a high GPA, so that I can keep my options open. I’m not exactly sure what I want to major in yet, so it’s critical. Each class has more course material and is more analytical (requiring actual thought) than what I faced during high school. This brings me to my second concern. I have a lot on my plate this year;  balancing classes and the extra curricular activities I have around campus is going to be one serious challenge. I need to keep up on readings, assignments, studying, and everything else. All of this really eats up the hours of the day. Time management is key. My third concern…well, planning for the future, and choosing a major that both interests me and that I can make a future out of. These have been my concerns since the start of the month, and they’ve only been amplified as time goes on.

The Baruch College experience has definitely offered more of a challenge than my high school experience, which I didn’t really think was a cakewalk either. Nonetheless, the fact that I actually have time between classes to study or do just grab a breather also differentiates Baruch from my high school experience. In addition, the fact that we, as students, are treated as adults, is another key aspect. I’d also like to note that I’ve met a much more diverse range of people at Baruch, even though my high school was pretty diverse in itself. It’s sometimes interesting to meet new kinds of people…for the most part.

I hope that my first year of college will change me into a more responsible, time-efficient, confident, self-reliant, and active person. I’m sure it won’t be an easy journey, but hopefully the ends will most certainly justify the struggle.

Here are the tips that we came up with in class two weeks ago. Hope you find them helpful!

• Establish a schedule for work and stick to it
• Get rid of distractions
• Get enough sleep – helps concentration
• Read on the train and between classes
• Baruch email on iphone/cell phone
• Communicate with professors!

These are songs that make me remember certain times and songs that I like. There’s a lot that’s left off, from high school in particular, but here’s what I came up with:

• Bruce Springsteen – “Thunder Road”
• The Wolfe Tones – “Streets of New York”
• Weezer – “Buddy Holly
• U2 – “Bloody Sunday”
• Ryan Adams – “To Be Young”
• Modest Mouse – “3^rd Planet”
• The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations”
• Feist – “Feel it All”
• The Mountain Goats – “This Year”
• The Flaming Lips – “Flight Test”

Click here for the playlist – http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Playlist+For+FRO/78086306

Looking through my photo album I start to ask myself: How can I describe myself through my pictures?  But now after completeing my assignment that question is easy for me to answer now;  my FAMILY makes up who I am! My daughter, my friends, my sister, my brother, my parents, they all contribute to the person I was, am now, and will become.  I hope you guys enjoy and learn a little bit more about me through my pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88129503@N06/