The main things I learned in my first semester of college is how to study and how to manage my time. In the past I’ve never had to put in much work at school and with the rest of my time I’ve just chilled.  In the middle of my junior year of high school I got a job doing programming and system administration, the workload became heavy and I stopped going to three of my classes and obviously my grades suffered. At the time I thought that work experience was more important than high school.  I still believe I was right.  My 69% average and 51% attendance senior are meanless compared to the of the year and a half of work experience I gained.  During that time I stayed up all night programming, went to the second half of school and still chilled with my friends.

Now that I’m in college I want to attain high grades and continue my extra-curriculars; now algorithmic trading.  Juggling these things has left my independent study stagnant since I am my own boss at this point.  My social life is thriving and my grade are pretty good.  The cost is a completely irregular sleep schedule and serious crunch upon me as finals approach.  Luckily I’ve learned some efficient study habits and what I am capable of balancing.  After this first semester I feel I will be very successful at baruch college, in all senses of the word.

College has me always thinking about what to do with my time.  My time is incredibly valuable, because I waste so much of it.  Is paying attention in this lecture the best thing I can do sitting here?  Should I be doing math homework and worry about politics later?  What about my independent studies?  The markets are open now so surely that’s what I should be looking at.  This class is actually pretty entertaining so paying attention isn’t the worst thing to do.  I look around at my peers.  About half of them are paying attention, making eye contact with the professor and taking notes.  The rest are distracting themselves with laptops and phones.  They have taken sides, adamantly playing for their team.  I can’t decide which I belong to.  I hope I don’t get banned from the league.

This song selection paints a picture of my ambitious, humbly materialistic, and fun-loving personality.  “Seven Nation Army” sings of someone who will fight vigorously for their cause.  My cause is my life.  I take my life, my goals, my ambition seriously.  At a young age I knew I wanted money and I didn’t want to work too laboriously for it.  When I was 14 I started a custom computer company, focusing on gaming and special applications.  I was able to consistently beat competitor (large computer companies such as dell, hp etc) prices as they saw this market as a place to gouge.  I was quite successful for a few years until larger custom computer firms such as iBuyPower began to take control of the niche.

“The Fear” by Lily Allen speaks somewhat sarcastically of materialism in society.  When she says she wants lots of money, and calls herself a weapon of massive consumption, she’s mocking the consumerist focus of society today.  Though sarcastic, it implies that she somewhat subscribes to this view.  I also enjoy consumerism.  I like expensive food, clothes, cars, computers, food and so on.  I know I want these things and need the money to fund such lifestyle.  Even though I embrace the materialistic aspect on my personality I have some reservations about it like Lily Allen does.  I know that money alone can’t buy happiness (I do joke that people who say this aren’t buying the right things),  it only enhances higher pleasures like friendship and love.  It simply enables a comfortable life so that happiness can be at the forefront of your focus.

The next three songs: “Get Low (Boombox Cartel Remix)”,”Tha Bidniz”, and “Booyah (Party Favor Remix)” show that I like to have fun and enjoy the party lifestyle.  Electronic music really embodies the fun-loving, partying aspect of my personality.  I really enjoy the energy and care free attitude that EDM shows and festivals inspire.  The song “Tha Bidniz” symbolizes my first experiences in rave culture when I first went at 16.  At these raves the primary genre of EDM played is called hardstyle, “Tha Bidniz” is a classic example.  The other two songs show the expansion of my tastes and also a progression of EDM into the mainstream.   Those songs would be more suited to the EDM concerts (it feels off to call them raves) of today where hardstyle only exists as interludes in songs of other genres.  Although I miss the personality of suspicious raves in semi legal venues, I embrace the production value that popularity and money has brought in recent years.  The following four EDM songs are more unique and finessed, displaying more care in production than most.  Especially the song “Black Gold” by Apashe shows technical expertise most producers lack(Apashe holds a degree in Audio Engineering while many producers’ education consists of youtube tutorials).  I am more critical of artists than most EDM fans in this way.  These three artists are also lesser known, showing that I have taken time to seek out talent beyond the producers at the forefront of the scene.