So far...

Two weeks into school, I feel like I've learned more than I have in my entire life.  For those who don't know, I'm taking classes through Liberty University Online for my Master's in Human Service: Marriage and Family Counseling.  I'm taking Human Growth and Development and Intro to Human Services.

Human Growth and Development has been interesting because it's all about how our mind and body work and how they grow.  I already feel like I'm analyzing everything that's going on around me.  Intro to human services has taught me about the history of human services and I've learned some counseling methods and about confidentiality in regards to patients.  I know this is exactly where God wants me to be.  I spend about 5-6 hours a day reading books, writing papers, researching, taking quizzes, writing discussion board posts and contemplating what I've learned.  I hate reading boring things, but this is all so interesting that I don't mind reading about the growth of an infant in the first few years of their lives for about 4 hours.  I don't mind reading about confidentiality laws for 2 hours.  I am so excited to work hard and make a difference when I'm done with college.

More than a month ago, I was here, and now that I'm experiencing it, I know that it's good.  I should graduate in December, but I'm not sure if I want to spread out my classes a bit more, because that's non-stop classes until I graduate.

As of March 11, 2012

Hey guys, enjoy this while you read.  It's called "For all the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti."  I know not everyone is big on banjo, but this is beautiful

Hey guys, I just wanted to give you all an update on life lately.  It's been kind of lackluster.  I have been hanging out, enjoying my last bit of free time until I graduate in December.  It's been boring, but overall, pretty nice.  I've worked hard my whole life, so it's nice to relax and not worry for once.  That's all coming to an end March 19th.

I begin my first two classes.  One class is called Intro to Human Services.  What I can tell from looking at the book, is that it's about: ethics, morals, and what to do with people who experience: substance abuse, child abuse, are elderly and need care, and adoption.  It looks like it will be a very informative and interesting class about the world of Human Services.  My second class this semester will be Human Growth and Development.  It looks like we'll be talking about everything that happens physically and mentally in a person from birth until death.  My semesters are 8 weeks long, so I'll be done May 11th, and three days later my summer semester will start.

This will be really good for me, as I said in this post, I always need to be learning something to feel like I'm doing something good with my life.  It'll be really good to be actively making myself smarter and more useful.

In other news, I'm looking for a part time job.  Before I decided to go back to school, I had applied to nearly 40 professional jobs.  I got really discouraged, but through all that, I realized that I needed to get another degree to get where I need to.  For the first time in a month, I've applied to several jobs.  I applied to Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, La Petite Academy, Aqua Tots, Intercept Youth Services and as a Tutor for Richmond Public School.  As you can tell, I'm clearly open to several different jobs.  I'm not really looking for a career at the moment, just something to make some money and fill time that I'm not doing schoolwork.  Every now and then I look to see what a Master's Degree in Human Services can get me, and I'm always happy to see hundreds of jobs to choose from.

Things are looking up!  If you can help me find a job, let me know!

Don't Stop Learning

I always have to be learning something new.  I don't feel like I'm bettering myself if I'm not.  Even if I'm not in school the rest of my life, I will definitely be learning something on my own.  Why would anyone be okay with a stagnant mind?

Lately, I've found out that a lot of people are okay with not learning new things.

I tutor and I'm around a lot of students all the time.  I hear how hard things are, and even some people giving up because of how hard things are.

If school isn't hard, you're probably not learning anything.  If things are easy, you're not challenging yourself to become smarter.  If things are hard, it's because your mind is actively trying to figure them out.

If learning something is really difficult, it means you're learning.

I hear all the time how our school systems in the United States are lacking.  I think a huge part is laziness in learning.  People don't want to put forth the hard work to push through those difficult learning situations.

Every student I have in Spanish says that it's difficult and at times they want to give up or slack off.  In the world of language, once you push past the first two years of grammar learning, things become easy because all I had to do my last two years of college was talk and present.  All it takes sometimes is trudging on.  Don't give up and don't be lazy about it.  At times, all of my students do their homework and study half-heartedly.  It's really disheartening to see people waste their potential.  They're all really smart, but don't let themselves experience more than the difficult time before they learn.

This has really been on my mind lately.  I see so many people wasting their lives away by not pushing their limits academically.  Challenge yourself.

Don't waste your potential to become a smarter, better person.  Be curious about the world.

Let me know your thoughts on this.


I'm not even in school right now, but I'm still curious about things, so I research them.
Here are a few other posts I wrote about things I researched:
- I'm a huge nerd
- What do they think?
- Why be bilingual? parts one, two and three