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There’s a comedy show on HBO called “Girls” and the first time I watched it I did not know what to think. It portraits this woman named Hannah who finished college two years ago and now is trying to figure out what is going to be her next step. What I mean when I say I did not know what to think is that in the first episode there is an anal sex scene pretty real but still funny. By the third episode the sex scenes just got worst but for some reason I could not stop watching it. What is so original about the show is that not only has A-class writing but also shows sex among young people as what it really is, not a sexy, formulated action but the inexperienced, weird and sometimes unhygienic mess it really is. But I do have a problem with it. I have all this girl friends who have told me the show is not just empowering but a portrait of the reality of many girls living in New York. I have a sister who is fifteen years old and I would not like her having sex with random guys or snorting cocaine while dancing a song called “I love it”. Even though the show clearly explores the universal idea of getting into the real world after being supported financially and emotionally by your parents, and even though I celebrate Hannah’s behavior, I would never want my sister to do the same life choices. That is why I have not recommended the show to her and I practically watch it in secret.

The trip to the Mishkin Gallery was pretty awesome.  I have always appreciated art especially since I consider myself a quasi-artist.  Anyway, we go into this gallery and I find myself- along with the rest of my male counterparts staring at this painting of a womans bossom.  At first the painting seemed oddly sexual but then when the woman running the exhibit explained what it was about this painting gained symbolic meaning.  It was as if the painter was juxtaposing the modern woman with the classic view of a woman.  I also looked at this painting where this man was on a horse.  This was a bit of an odd picture because this mans anatomical setup seemed all out of whack.  His waist seemed to small, and it looked like there was a tumour on his back.  Interestingly enough, the horse seemed to have a weird body too.  I guess the point of this was to say, “if everything is screwed up, then nothing really is.”  The best painting was this one where the artist recreated an older painting.  The artist took some liberties whilst recreating the painting.  Mostly though, the artist made the painting a lot more brighter.  This induced a spring or summer feel that evoked a feeling of warmth.  It was also interesting to note, that the painter had to almost disassemble his painting in order for it to travel.  The incredible part about it was that the painter had to mend the canvases together himself.  It’s like this guy is Leonardo da Vinci mixed with Bob Vila.  Overall, the exhibit was not only cool but incredibly informative and I enjoyed it immensely.

I thought the Health and Wellness workshop was really helpful. I personally don’t benefit from the meditating because I’m awfully impatient, but the information presented was really helpful. The speakers however didn’t look prepared or confident on what they were speaking about, but they were probably stressed out a little too. I don’t mind that. I was stressed at that time for general predicaments, and I still am stressed about the same predicaments. School, work, my future, and girl problems are all stressing me out. It’s a little too personal to go in depth, but those are basically my problems as of now and at the time of the workshop. The workshop helped me realize how to help overcome these stress problems though. After the workshop, I started being more comfortable to vent to my friends and family. I started telling them how I felt, asking them what I should do, and if they have ever been through the same stress. Fortunately,…well not really fortunate but,… some of the people I talked to empathize the stress I am going to and were able to contribute valuable advice. Yes, I am still going through a little stress, and that’s why I’m losing hair and breaking out like crazy, but it is starting to get better for me. I also liked that they gave out that free green apple stress ball. Believe it or not, I use it from time to time, and it keeps my mind off of some of my problems. Hopefully these stresses will fade away so I can help someone out in the future if they ever experience anything like I did. Overall, I really enjoyed the Health and Wellness workshop, and I really hope everyone who was there enjoyed it and found it beneficial like I did.

Although I have never been too interested in art and never really appreciated it the way many do, I had a great time at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery. I am unsure whether it was because of the people we were with or the actual exhibit itself but either way it was very enjoyable. Being a guy, one would assume my favorite picture of the gallery would have been the “Modern Girl” by Zhang Hui. I also found it very interesting as well though. I could not understand or figure out why I every picture she was sitting at a different part of the table. I did not make much sense to me. There was actually one painting I did really appreciate however. “The Trace of Life” by Yi Xuan was a painting I am not sure how anyone could not find it interesting. It was a brown canvas where she carved out little tiny white lines throughout it. It seemed as though it must have taken her hours upon hours in order to finish a piece like that. I also remember when Vinny explained how viewing a picture from far away gives you a new view as opposed to being close up to it. I remember we were all doing it and finding all different perspectives on the picture than arguing which one of us had the most accurate one. Although I do not appreciate art too much I found this to be both fun and enjoyable. I also really enjoyed the speaker of the exhibit. She was really sweet and nice to all of us. I really enjoyed the exhibit.

It is ironic to me that the title for the art exhibition in the Mishkin Gallery is called “Revisiting a Legacy” For me, I actually felt like I did revisit a legacy because I took a huge break on art. I studied art for most of my years in High School, and after that I never saw a piece of art in person. Therefore, after visiting this gallery, I felt like I actually revisited a legacy. All of the pieces were fascinating to me, but there were certain pieces that stood out among the rest. These particular pieces of art were painted by Chaolun Baatar. I observed that in two of his paintings, The Girl from Inner-Mongolia and The Last Meadow, Baatar uses huge brush strokes. These brush strokes creates movement and drama to these pieces and makes the painting look alive. These pieces are monochromatic, meaning that one color and different shades of it are only used. These pieces include a red color theme and draw your eyes to them because of the vibrancy. It gives the painting a powerful effect on the human the eye. Additionally, he also used impasto, which is the term for heavy and thick paint on canvas. This is definitely a skill this artist has mastered because it definitely makes the artworks look alive. Another piece I was fascinated with from this particular artist was Tent Cleaning. After looking at this piece, it helped me conclude that Baatar is a very versatile artist and is skilled in different styles or art. I can tell that this piece was highly influenced by some of the most notorious impressionist artists. He uses small thin brush strokes, which are visible from up-close. However, from afar the paintings look natural. After looking at these particular art pieces, I had a nostalgic feeling of being in High School again, and that feeling was pleasant.

The health and wellness workshop we visited was both informative and interesting. I enjoyed learning the different types of strategies in order to live a less stressful and joyful lifestyle. On the other hand, as I mentioned in my monologue I am the least stressful person and find nothing serious so this workshop did not really persuade me to change anything about my life, just informed me on ways to be less stressful. I did however love the stress ball they gave us and although it is supposed to be used for squeezing and releasing stress, I enjoyed bouncing it around the remainder of the day. I love being calm and stress free so this was a very easy workshop to relate to however I did not enjoy the meditating. This is solely because all the times in my childhood where a speaker would come in and promote meditating and show how to do it, I personally never found any change before and after doing it. Meditation, for me personally, seems useless and I do not enjoy it in any way. I would much rather just stay stress free myself and remain calm then resort to ten minutes a day of sitting in silence and breathing. I did enjoy the hand exercises though because those actually felt good. Between the stress ball and the hand exercise’s, I think the workshop was well worth it and enjoyable.

Being an eighteen year old male with a sixteen year old mentality, entering a school where the average age is 23 seemed to be problematic. Nevertheless I entered Baruch the first day of the semester just being myself. All around me I saw classy, formal outfits and yet there was I, nice and comfortable in sweatpants. I was curious to see how my childish ways would conflict or interact with the adult mindsets of those around me. Although I wished to remain my immature self, early on I learned inside the classroom I would not be able to be myself. Out of shear routine from high school, I called my teacher Mrs., turning out to be my biggest mistake of college thus far. Judging solely by her response you would have thought I physically hit her. I went on to apologize and explained how I was fresh out of high school and would need to remember to say Professor as opposed to Mrs. She went on to say, “well I better learn quick if I wanted to last in college.” I found this response quite ridiculous and a little much. Either way I decided to make it second nature to never say anything less than Professor again. Although I am immature, I am an intelligent kid, just someone who wishes to never grow up. I treat every day of my life in a childish and fun-filled way. Never will you see me too serious, too sad, or disappointed in anyway. I love life and believe it is too short to be taken seriously. Although success is my number one goal in life I do not believe it she be chosen over the sacrifice of enjoyment and happiness. I have seen many students so far on campus dressed in three piece suits and look highly successful but quite frankly just look unhappy and way too stressed. To be totally honest even a month and a half into this semester I am still unclear how my classmates perceive me. Who knows whether they find me annoying, funny, interesting, weird, I really do not know. What I do know is I have had a blast my first semester and will continue being the easygoing, stress free yet hard worker I am and will continue to do my best in all academic classes.

The visit to the art museum was interesting and fun. It was fun going with my freshmen seminar class because we all had different views of the artwork, which allowed the visit to be more enjoyable. I enjoyed seeing the various styles of art and also how differently the painters think with their art. There was some art that we encountered that my class and I were unable to understand what made the art so special. As we stood and tried to decipher one of them I began to see a greater truth behind the art. I realized that the picture symbolized life. Instead of looking at the solidity and simplicity of the art, the artist portrayed the different strokes taken to create the painting that showed the complex design hidden beneath which no one pays attention to. This is like life because people usually tend to look at the effects of life but forget to pay attention to the cause. I believe that everything begins within the mind. The outer world is only a reflection of the inner world. This is what I believe the artist was trying to point out in his work of art. I also showed my fellow classmates that if you move away from a painting, you see it differently than if you looked at it from up close. We had a lot of fun testing this out with many of the paintings in the art gallery and were surprised at what we saw. In one picture, a woman appeared to be wearing a ribbon from up close but when looking at the picture from a distance the ribbon looked like a small lamb. This fascinated us greatly and I think that it was an influential experience and a great way to bond with my fellow classmates.

The health fair workshop I attended with my fellow classmates was fun and informative. They explained what exactly stress is, and introduced some ways of dealing with it. My peers and I were asked to fill out a questionnaire sheet, which estimated our stress level and risk for heart attacks. After doing the questionnaire, I found out that I was a type A2 person. This implicated that I am heading in the direction to being cardiac prone. When I saw this, I disagreed greatly. Not only did I disagree with the assumption that I was ‘highly stressed’ but also with some of the personalities that it listed for my type. Fears not performing well, little sense of humor, pessimistic attitude? No, No…this was definitely not describing me. When I looked over the Type B personality list I also saw that I had many of the qualities listed. Has fun while accomplishing tasks, finds pleasure in simple activities, good sense of humor, and optimistic in general…now this was definitely my kind of list. As the workshop progressed, I realized why my situation was different. The reason that I had many personalities of Type B but was listed in type A is because I do all of the activities the mentors spoke about. They explained that in order to lessen stress, we have to do activities such as yoga, meditation and writing a journal. These are all activities I currently do which allow me to deal with all forms of stress in my life. The workshop was fun and I especially loved the video where they explained meditation and inner peace by showing a clip from the movie, Kung Fu panda. I’m glad to know that I will be successful, since the questionnaire said type A tend to be more successful, and that I am taking the right precautious to deal with stress in my life.

College is one of the most stressful times of a person’s life. For a real career orientated person, getting good grades, attending classes and keeping personal life together might prove difficult. The pressure of advanced education sometimes cause health deterioration. To function effectively in college, it’s absolutely necessary for inner peace and a healthy, stress free body.

Our enrichment workshop on health and wellness pointed out some facts about stress and how we can avoid them. It also pointed out some assistance Baruch provides about relieving stress which most of us didn’t know. A key point about defeating stress is to have inner peace. Meditation is a good way to have inner piece, but as Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda says, some people achieve inner piece easily while for others, getting inner peace itself is a cause of stress.

Another easy way to relieve stress and achieve inner peace is yoga. People often think yoga as a complex form of exercise and refrain from it. In reality, yoga is a simple form of stretching and controlled breathing which can be done by almost anyone. A simple stretching of fingers or elbow and breathing slowly for a short time can effectively reduce stress within minutes. Getting a message is a good stress reliever as well as it relaxes the tensed muscles of the body. But for me, the best way to relieve stress is to have self-confidence and belief that no matter what obstacle life throws, one can overcome it.

As for me, I don’t let anything stress me out too much and I don’t leave work for the last moment. I already have inner peace and don’t need meditation for that. Although I stretch and exercise almost every morning, for me the best stress reliever is taking a hot shower or walking at night for an hour. I also drink a lot of water which helps me keep calm.