Changed Opinion of Blogging

I previously had written a blog stating that i hated blogging, well after a few more attempts and a few days of “power blogging” my opinion has definitely changed. Over the past couple of days I have been experiencing some new things such as traveling alone, the end of my undergraduate career, the possibility of leaving the U.S. for an extended period of time this August, and excitement about traveling to Europe this summer for a vacation. These blogs have really help me express my emotions about the various things that are going on in my life right now and I have really enjoyed it. Before the blogs were just a homework assignment that I had been procrastinating to do for a long time, now that have been come like a mini journal for that I become addicted to. I have had various experiences over the last week and I would be like “ohhh I’m gonna blog about that.” I think I may try to continue blogging a little bit after graduation or write in a journal or something while I am in Europe this summer because this type of free-writing seems like it pretty good for the soul. Thus there is another reason I am happy that I took English Writing 401, they say things you whatever you make of them and I must admit I am a little sad that I didn’t discover the benefits of blogging earlier in the semester. Well, there is no looking back now, but I have the future to change that. So in my changed opinion I must say blogging is not that bad, I actually really like it now.

Semester in English Writing 401

I had to take English Writing 401 because I did not pass my junior writing requirement, which made me really bitter because I received an A- on my papers, however the teacher told me my writing could improve. Looking back he was correct, often times and to this day I don’t spell check my work very well and I seem to enjoy long sentences. I was very skeptical about this English Writing class in the beginning because it was suppose to be all about exploring technology and writing. I had no idea how were going to do that and was not very excited about having to learn how to use Mac computers. After the first few weeks I really did not know how I felt about the class, we had to read this book that was not very useful or interesting and we had not explored any technology expect for blogging and wiki’s which I was not a fan of. However, after our first couple of projects in which we had to use the Mac programs garage band and imovie I became really interested and thankful for this class because it force me to become familiar with some pretty awesome programs on the Mac computer. It also showed me that there is a variety of way using technology to present your writing that makes the art of writing less painful. I would honestly recommend this class to people who are not required to take it because it is very beneficial and interesting. So thank you English Writing (Professor, classmates, and technology) 401 for a great semester and exposing me to new experiences.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Like millions of other video game players around the world, on April 29th I went into the store and purchase a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV for my PlayStation Three gaming system. It really is a great game when you taking into consideration of the plot of the game, high definition picture, and various features of the game. However, it one of the worst games out there when it come to its affect on your Psyche. The whole premise of the game is that you are an underworld criminal from Eastern Europe and you are willing to do anything you must in order to make your way towards the American Dream. This includes killing cops, stealing cars, selling drugs, etc. It is really a game that I would never want my children to play, but since I have gotten addicted to the series due to my purchase of Grand Theft Auto III (There have been two more game released for Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA Vice city and San Anderas)). I honestly don’t even know why I like playing it because I can only play for about 20 minutes before i get depressed and have to turn the game off because its so violent and “mature”. I really wish I could just not play the game anymore or sell it back to the story, but I have to beat all the missions, and the game is a instead classic with projections that it will be the best selling video game ever,  come on I have to keep it. Why? Because everyone is DOING IT!!

My San Francisco Interview

Now in my previous posts I have been talking about me taking a trip up to San Francisco for an interview, so I suppose it is necessary for me to tell you about the interview. I had the interview at the Monaco Hotel on 501 Geary street in downtown San Francisco at 8am Monday morning (5/5/2008). The previous day I had been all round Downtown San Francisco so I had already had all my tourist moments of confusion and looking lost. Now I was an experienced (1 day of experience) Downtown San Francisco expert and walked into the interview with a real San Francisco businessman swagger (minus the whole J-Walking part, I could not get myself to do it because I kept on thinking I would get a ticket, so that may have been the only thing to give me away). I met the who ladies who were going to interview me down stairs and they told me to meet them in room 401 in ten minutes. Now being the immature 22 year College senior that I am, my mind was racing with inappropriate thoughts, which entertained me and made me laugh the whole ten minutes I was waiting to go up stairs. I was wondering why the interview would be in their hotel room, although it was a really nice hotel, I could not help but think there had to be some type of conference room that we could meet at but I decided to go with the flow. I walked into the room and it was a normal hotel room, but it has a small conference area. I meet the two ladies once again and the interview begun. During the interview one of the ladies (the British Lady) had on a shirt that was too small for her belly and she was showing me a lot of skin, so once again my immature mind started racing and I had to hold myself from laughter for about an hour. However, the interview went very well and I was able to maintain my composure and it seemed like they really liked me, I will know sometime next week if I get the internship or not. Its a business internship with the Mountbatten internship program, in which I would be able to spend a year in London working for a firm out there. I am excited to here back from them and I can assure you that although I was thinking many thinks when the lady was showing me some skin I was very professional and it did not affect my interview at all.

Traveling Alone

I have always thought of the idea of traveling places alone as a weird concept, many of my friends have taken weeks, and even months of vacations to places around the world by themselves. Maybe its only a weird concept to me because I love being around people and would want to experience a cool new city or country with someone else rather than being by myself. But there all comes a time in our lives when we have to travel by ourselves and this weekend was my turn. I had to travel up to San Francisco (not very far from Los Angeles) by myself for an interview and it wasn’t that bad. I had a variety of mixed emotions during my travels. I felt excitement traveling by myself in an unfamiliar city with a big possibility of getting lost (and I did very often), I felt alone because this was the first time I had traveled anywhere too far from home alone, I felt mature because I had set this trip up all by myself, and I felt like the world was an extremely big place and I was just a little part of it. Traveling alone made me more aware of my surroundings and It made me more prone to talk to locales and random people throughout the visit which I really enjoyed. Other than being particularly rattled about driving through an unfamiliar place (I have never driven next to street trolleys, trains, so many cabs, and J-walking pedestrians) I loved every moment of the whole experience of traveling alone. I don’t know how often I would want to do it again, but it is definitely something I would recommend because it is a fun experience and I honestly felt I have grown a lil bit from it.

Los Angeles vs. San Francisco

I Love Los Angeles and will always be a Southern Californian at heart, but I must say that San Francisco is a much better city. I have been to San Francisco about three times, once in Junior high and twice in the past year. During my trip in junior high we visited all the lames places and did not get to experience downtown San Francisco, which in my opinion is the best part. I went to San Francisco for the second this summer to visit a friend and she took me around Downtown for a little while. I was amazed at the feel of the city, all I could think about is how much it reminded me of New York and I Love New York. The third time I visited was yesterday, I had flown up for an interview for an internship in London and had the opportunity to visit the city the day before the interview. This time I was by myself so I was able to just take my time and take in the whole city and its feel. I was impressed by how much cleaner their air was and the efficiency of their public transportation, which Los Angeles fails at. I also loved the fact that they have better variety of fashion in their stores and their downtown is a lot cleaner than Downtown Los Angeles. I actually think someday I would like to live in San Francisco someday I liked it so much and I haven’t even seen everything the city has to offer. I will always be an So Cal kid, but I am going to need for Los Angeles to improve its city and downtown a little bit because San Francisco is a lot better, not to mention the people are nicer and its not so hot.

LAX vs. SFO

I recently took a quick trip up to San Francisco for an interview this past weekend and got to compared my experiences at LAX (Southern California’s international airport) and SFO (Northern California’s international airport) and I was amazed at how much better and efficient SFO was. Being born and raised in Southern California I obviously have major bias toward Southern California and naturally thought we had the best stuff. Well to say the least I had a culture shock when I arrived into SFO and they had an Airtranthat would take passengers to every terminal you needed to go to, and it was operated without a human!!! I was very impressed with the overall set up of the airport and how clean it was. The rental car and the long term parking was a good ways away from the main terminals so that there was not crowding or confusion and the Airtran provided cheap and efficient transportation to the international and domestic terminals. The only problem I have with the Airtran is that if you are in a rush, it could cause problems as the Airtran takes its time to get around to each stop. There was also more crowding in at the security checkpoint at SFO compared to LAX. However it did not make me think any less of SFO as a whole. It did make me wonder what we were doing wrong here in Southern California? why don’t we have such a highly sophisticated transportation system in our airport?  What is our northern counterparts doing so much better than us for them to have figured it out and for us to have an outdated International airport? I don’t know honestly but whatever it is I think we need to fix it and upgrade LAX…but then again who is going to pay for that?

United Airlines

In my opinion United Airlines is the worst airlines I have ever had to deal with! After my Senior year in high school I went on a trip to Florida with my brother and my Friend Durand, we flew United and experienced several delays, cancellations, and problem throughout the whole trip. At the time I chalked it up to it being the summer time and the increased amount of travelers. However, on Sunday I flew United to make the simple and quick trip up to San Francisco from Los Angeles. On the way up to San Francisco my flight was delayed about two hours because of some “ground problems occurring at SFO”. I was not in a rush because I had no plans for that day other than travel around downtown San Francisco and shop. I ended up getting to San Francisco safely after the delay and though nothing of it. However, on my way back home (Monday morning) I went to get my e-ticket and it said that my flight had been cancelled and I was moved to a new flight. I was checking in around 10am for a flight back to Los Angeles at noon and they had placed me on a flight that was departing at 2pm. After I checked for other flights I was able to get on a flight that was departing at 11:15am so I was pleased because I wanted to get back home so that I could finish up some projects and study for finals. Until I got on the plane and it was delayed!! again!! not only was the flight delayed, it wasn’t even a full flight and I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t have placed me on this flight in the first place instead of trying to make me wait from 10am until 2pm to get on a new flight. After  sitting in the plane for about 30 minutes because the plane didn’t have enough gas we took off and arrived back safely in Los Angeles. Although I was happy to be home I was even more happier that I would not have to deal with United Airlines again, to say the least I will never fly United Airlines again.

Exploitation of Women in Hip-Hop

I recently did a slide show for my English Writing class on the exploitation of women in hip-hop and it really changed how i view hip-hop and has made me more conscience of the way hip-hop has influenced me and my ideologies of women.  I read a lot of research that has proved hip-hop lyrics and music videos really has a big influence on America’s youth and how they perceive themselves. Unfortunately hip-hop tells the young ladies in our culture that they have wear the latest slutty fashions and expose themselves in order to be sexy and its compounded by what hip-hop tells the young men in our culture that women are hoes, sluts, and are only good for money. For hip-hop artist, the fact of the matter is that sex sells ands they are going to do whatever they need to in order to make their money and I feel that it is really sad because they are hurting our youth. However, I do agree with Bell Hooks who claims that hip-hop gets all the flak from concernedparents, teachers, churches, etc for the exploitation of women, but no one points the finger at our culture. Just like hip-hop the Church is sexiest towards women, and the exploitation of women dates back to slavery times when Black women were used as sexual objects for their slave masters. Therefore although hip-hop is responsible for a lot of negative ideologies of women that America’s youth holds today, we also need to take a look at our culture history and why this may be, and it is because exploitation of women is embedded in our culture’s history.  Thus in order to change this we need to change our culture and continue to demand improved and more positive music from hip-hop artist.

Going to the Library During Finals/Reading Days

Okay traditionally we think of the library as a place/environment that is conducive to a student’s successful study habits, but not at Occidental or at least in my experiences in the Oxy library during finals/reading day times.  The Oxy library usually has a lot of students in it throughout the day, as our school is known for its academic success, however during finals times it takes about 20-30 minutes to even find a free seat or computer in the library. However, there is more. Eventually you end up finding a place to sit and start doing whatever huge project  you have due or to prepare for whatever final you have coming up, usually  finding a seat near you close friends or buddies. However, you quickly realize that none of you actually feel like doing homework or studying so you begin to chat away about lasts weekend events, future weekend events, summer plans, freshman year experiences, etc. Time continues to fly by and none of you can be happy about the progress you have made in your studies so you decided to buckle down, stop talking, and do you work. However, after about 10 minutes of that you become bored or distracted and start socializing again and again and again, only to realize that about 4 hours have passed by and all you have done is put your name on a piece of paper and have written two sentences. You finally acknowledge that during this time the library is not place to study because you get nothing done, you end up going back home and completing you protect efficiently. You are happy you finished your work, but disappointed it took you 4 hour to realize that your school library is not a place of study but a place for socialization.