Monthly Archives: October 2012

Who are you?

How would you describe yourself?

What do you think?

How do you feel?

…

These are the questions I’m being asked to answer.

Ok, fine…

Would you really like to know my honest feelings?

I honestly feel that it’s quite difficult to express who I think I am to a room full of people, when I’m still on the verge of finding that out for myself.

BUT… If you would really like an answer, I guess I could give you a quick [general] overview of some of my traits:

*Clears throat*

I’m nice, I’m funny, I’m caring, I like to laugh, I’m an over-thinker, I can be difficult, I can get moody, but overall, I’m a nice, positive person.

I, I, I, I, I, I…

Was that good enough?

…No, not really.

Did that truly give you a clear idea of the real me?

No, it didn’t, but hey, at least I completed my assignment.

If you want to hear something real, I’ll tell you this, one of my many passions in life  include getting to know people.

I mean really getting to know them!

Going beyond the general traits and attempting to find the true characteristics that lie beneath the surface.

Life experience has taught me that it is foolish to take everyone’s words at face value (that’s pretty much why I’m not the biggest advocate of this whole monologue thing).

For all you guys know, I could have totally made up everything I just listed about myself (fyi I didn’t, but you get my point).

Life is not about being told/accepting everyone’s version of the “truth”, but instead finding out the real “truth” for ourselves.

And no, I am not trying to be difficult, I just believe that anyone can right down a bunch of nice-sounding adjectives onto a piece of paper and present them to a class as their own personal characteristics.

In my opinion, if you really want to get to know someone, you have to take the time out to really get to know them.

You can’t just just accept the person they claim to be (that’s stupid).

In other words, if you want to know, ASK, INVESTIGATE, STALK, etc.

So, as I conclude my rant, I encourage you all, instead of sitting here, listening and openly accepting all of these monologues as truth, why not take the time to talk to each of your classmates and really get to know them as individuals.

Then and only then will you be able to personally grasp the true characteristics of the people around you.

Isn’t that the whole point of this ridiculous monologue thing anyway?

Change. Like a caterpillar to a butterfly. I havnt changed at all since i walked into Baruch for the first time. I suppose at this point im only more frustrated with certain things. Like the way some of my classes are run. But besides the added frustration, I’m the same Liam I was in August. I dont think its been long enough for me to actually change significantly. Throwing someone in a new environment can usher in change rather quickly in order to fit in, and at first i thought id have to change in order to be welcome at baruch. A gradual change though, not an instant one. However i found a group of friends that i did not have to change for which made settling into Baruch considerably easier than what i initially thought. To be honest I do not expect to change unless i really have to, but I would like to think that i do not need to change who I am, and I only need to keep pushing forward in life.  Afterall, I am not a caterpillar that is trying to become a butterfly. I am a human.  

Want to know what really gets me? College.  There is something about it that is just a different form of living.  Between the classes, school work, free time, and possibilities for going out in the city, it’s a new world.  These terribly boring classes I have to sit through are even more boring and worse than High School.  But the bright side, I can sleep without being disturbed and I can miss class for no apparent reason and it will be completely okay.  Because honestly, there are a lot of completely pointless classes to be at that will do nothing for me.  This is why I think Baruch has in the four absence rule, this way there are things you can miss but if you miss too much then you won’t be getting the right education.  The school work and the free time almost go together for me.  This is because I seem to have a lot of free time until I get a paper or have a big test the next day.  Although these High School habits are working now, we’ll see how much I have to change them when things gets little tougher.  This is why I have so much free time and don’t really know what to do.  This is part of the reason I recently got a job at Niketown on 57^th street.  Oh yea, and I love the money too.  Money brings us right into the nightlife aspect of the city.  It kind of nuts, but definitely expensive as hell.  That’s why you have to think of crafty ways to do fun things for cheap.  But, then again, I would never do anything to change that because it’s the most fun and best city in the world. I don’t think any other college could top this experience.

It was the summer of all summers. I spent the last two months on my own with my best friends. With my parents being in Florida all summer, there was no stopping us. Sleeping late, out till five in the morning, having the time of our lives. Our summer started with a week in Wildwood. Knowing this was our last summer before college, we wanted to make it our best. Whether it was going to the beach, going to graduation parties, or just driving around Staten Island aimlessly, we were always having a great time. Each other’s company was enough to keep us happy, even if we were just in Wendy’s parking lot, blasting music in the car. When the last week of summer was coming to an end, I began to lose control of my emotions. These were the people I grew up with. I’ve spent just about every day with them since elementary school, and now we would all be hours away from each other. My best friends made me the person who I am today. They are my support system. Without them, I would be nothing. Out of all of us, I was having the most difficult time. I have never been an outgoing person when it came to meeting new people. The idea of moving into a new place with strangers started to terrify me. As move-in day became closer, I was starting to regret my decision to go away to school. Move-in day was August 19^th, but class didn’t start until eight days after. How would I deal with these strangers for the next week? The morning I left for school I visited my best friend Megan, who has lived across the street from me my entire life. As soon as we saw each other, I began to hysterically cry. Megan was in shock; I never cry. I’m pretty sure the only time she has seen me cry was when I fell off of a seesaw in 3^rd grade. After I said my goodbyes, it was time to go. A short drive later and we arrived. I was the first one out of my roommates to arrive, so I got first pick of the beds. I looked around my room and thought, ‘Well, this is it.’ One by one, the rest of the kids on my floor started to arrive. As suspected, meeting my roommates was awkward. At this point, all I could imagine was the three of us awkwardly and silently living in this room together until the end of the school year. Fortunately, things got better over time. We slowly began to become more comfortable with each other as we started to learn more about each other. Slowly but surely, everyone on the floor became friendly with one another. Who would’ve thought? Ryan O’Brien making friends. Although I was still awkward, I found people who luckily accepted my awkwardness. I came to this school thinking I would never find people as great as my friends back home. However, these guys come pretty close. There are eleven of us who we call “the Family.” Every Sunday we have family dinner, where we take turns cooking. Our “family” is just like any other, we have our drama but we would be lost without each other. I am so grateful it turned out the way it did. I have even introduced some of my friends from home to my new friends, and we have had a couple of great nights together. It feels great to have new amazing friends and to know I have friends who love me back home as well.

Brady Ambro

It was 7th grade and volleyball tryouts were a week away.  I had no real volleyball experience except for some gym class games so I was very nervous.  When the first day of tryouts came I was ready to go.  I listened to my warm up playlist all day in school to get ready for the big day.  The first day went very well.  I performed better then I expected and felt good about how I played.  The next day, my coach posted the first cuts.  I made the first cuts and I was very excited.  I couldn’t wait to play again the next day after school.  I got to tryouts the next day and was ready to go.  Once again after the second day I felt good about how I played.  Surely enough I made the second cut.  Time for the final day.  I was still nervous for this day because it was my last chance to impress the coach.  After the third day I was not very happy with how I played.  After the last tryout I got cut and was not on the team.  When normally this would make people upset, I was not going to let this get to me and instead I would use it and turn a negative thing into a positive.  In between 7th and 8th grade I was very determined on making the team.  I worked very hard during the off season and did a lot to get into shape and get my skill level up for the next season.  I did a lot of wind sprints and a lot of leg exercises.  This all helped a lot and paid off because I ended up making the team in 8th grade.  Now it was time for high school ball.  I was excited for this because my coach from middle school was the high school varsity coach.  In my freshmen year, I was out on the Junior Varsity team after the tryouts.  Early into the season, one of the kids from the Varsity team quit and my coach needed someone to fill the spot on the roster.  I knew the spot was open but no where in my mind did I think I would be getting the spot.  One day at practice we were warming up and my coach at the time pulled me over to the side and said “Brady, coach needs an extra spot to be filled on the varsity team and he wants to move you up.”  I was in shock.  I had no idea what to say and I just stood there in silence.  My coach then said that I can have until friday to think about it and talk it over with my parents.  I went right home and told my parents and they were amazed.  They were very happy for me and gave me good advice.  They said that although you won’t get as much playing time on the varsity team, just practicing with them will definitely make me a better player. As always, my parents were right.  I chose to move up and was the only freshmen on the team.  On my first day of practice I was very intimidated.  Almost everyone on the team was much bigger then me and much stronger.  Although they were bigger and intimidating I played as hard as I could and I was able to keep up.  This choice to move up was probably one of my best choices and led to a great career of volleyball for me.  I ended up starting on my high school varsity team the following year and ended up receiving all- league in 11th grade and all-county in my senior year.  Along with school ball I played four years of club ball.  With my club team I traveled all over the country.  We went everywhere from California to Upstate New York. This also very much improved my skills.  I saw great competition all over the country and became a great volleyball player.  I attended the Junior Olympics four years in a row and in my final year my team was ranked #1 on the East Coast.  I currently play for the Baruch Mens Volleyball team and hope to have a great career with my fellow Bearcats and possibly win a National Championship.

Ello Govna good-ay sir. I just wrote that first sentence just to be able to say that if my monologue gets picked ha ha.  I was asked how i have changed since my start at Baruch, my answer is i don’t know. Honestly i hope i haven’t changed because then that means i have wronged my old self. I do know that I have learned new concepts but that is something that is expected of when starting college. I also got to become friends with a special group of people called my homies. Also met an interesting bunch of kids in my freshman seminar which astonished me as i have found nice people in New York. In the end  I do acknowledged i have changed substantially due to the picture i will proceed to show, with this i end ha ha. https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/writingculture/files/2011/03/IMG_0021.jpg

I don’t know where to start so I’ll just start by saying hi. That seems like a solid place to start. Here’s some things about me. I’m the second of three children, the only girl. I love animals but dogs and cats have a special place in my heart. I plan on getting a German Shepard, an Alaskan Husky, a yorkie or this other breed of dog that I’m not sure of. As I said before I want to travel a lot and see as many countries as I can. If anyone wants to be my travel buddy let me know 🙂 I love to read. I actually just finished a book today. I like to shop and be outside and explore. I like the smell of pine and bleach (not together). I think Taylor Swift is my absolute favorite artist but I’m open to listening to almost anything. I generally love to try new things. I always remember things after the fact so there is more but I can’t remember right now.

Before I say what how college is like I have to explain how high school was. I was pretty much good at everything when it came to classes (I was the Salutatorian) but when it came to socializing I was always scared. I don’t know where that fear came from but after a while it became part of me. Don’t get me wrong I had friends, a good amount of them but making new ones always seemed like such a challenge. Over the summer I decided to make a change. It doesn’t make sense to be unhappy if there is something you can do about it. So now I’m here at Baruch. I can’t explain how happy I am here. I’ve met such fun, nice people and I’m taking classes that I enjoy. That’s really all you could ask for. Even though I still feel that tug of nervousness when it comes to meeting new people I’m working through it. I don’t want to let fear keep me from making memories and unfolding my future. I have so many different plans for life and right now I feel like I’m in a place to make that happen no matter what route I choose.

I guess I’ll stick with the way everyone else titled the monologue. So this is a second draft. I didn’t like the first one because that ended up being a rant related to what I was annoyed at today.

I’m not really not a negative person but these are 10 things I hate. One. I hate buffering signs. They make me crazy and it’s even worse they they try to jazz em up to make you hate them more but I always end up hating the thing more. Two. I hate when people say OMG in real life. It just makes me feel awkward. Speaking off awkward… Three. I hate that awkward moment when you hold the door for someone and they end up being too far so you don’t know if you should let it go or keep holding it and they end up running to you and you’ve got yourself a 80’s love scene. And its even worse when I’m the person running and I do this odd long stride jog thing. Four. I hate when people don’t use literally right. Get it right people. You’re not literally starving to death you’re just a little hungry. Five. I hate when I’m getting ready to go somewhere and i don’t know how to dress. I always picture me dressing to casual and them kicking me out of the party or i’m too fancy and no one wants to talk to me. Six. I hate chris. If you don’t get it then you don’t waste enough time watching TV. Seven. I hate button up jeans. Its just unnatural. Eight. I hate strangers start conversations with me when i have headphones in. Ask me a question and go on your way that’s fine but when people have nothing to say and just feel like chatting that doesn’t float my boat. My headphones should be a signal to leave me alone. If i wanted social interaction I’d wear a sign that says:creeps on the subway you can talk to me. Nine. I hate when I try to wash a spoon the water always finds its way to my crotch area and it looks like I peed. I was trying to be sanitary and this is what I get. And ten. I hate when I try and log in to an account online and I type something in wrong and it doesn’t tell me what was wrong my username or my password so I have to change both of them use different combinations and its a whole process. Those are ten things I hate… you’re welcome.

I really don’t know what this is supposed to be about. We were told to go off our free writes but if I do all it will be about is how lame free writes are. So going down a different road I am going to basically just talk about myself, who I am, and who I want to be. I lived in Lindenhurst Long Island my whole life. I am a student athlete and graduated sixteenth in my class. School comes easy to me. In high school I never studied for a test and I really didn’t care. I wasn’t popular in high school but I wasn’t hated either. I was sort of an average kid. Everyone thinks that because of my personality that I am a douche who just wants to get with girls. This is not true I am a Christian and serve the Lord wholeheartedly and saving myself for my wife. College isn’t much different. The material isn’t that hard and the professors teach as if it’s stuff we can’t grasp. I hope in my future to become a successful businessman. I have a whole arsenal of business ideas that I can’t wait to begin. I love buying and selling things and doing stuff that makes me happy whether it pleases others or not. So that’s my monologue I know it wasn’t that great but that’s me so I guess deal with it.