Life is starting

Play this and read along!

Wow, so much going on.

Well, I'm finishing up my fifth week of school right now.  Let me explain quickly how this works, because I know it's a little different.  I need thirty credits to graduate.  The semesters are done as sub-semesters.  Each sub-semester is eight weeks long, and during each eight weeks I take two classes.  Therefore, I'll be done about december.  I'm taking 2 classes now, so 6 credits this semester, and then 12 over the summer and then 12 in the fall.   Point is, I'm doing a lot of school-work in a very short amount of time and I'll be done with grad school in about 8 months total.  I'm loving it.  I love being in school and learning things.  I'm especially loving what I'm learning right now because it has so much to do with how people work, and people fascinate me.  I know my calling in life is to get my hands muddy in other people's struggles.  I know my calling is to help people fight through rough times.  This is totally preparing me for that.

I have two 15 page papers due in three weeks.  Almost all of my research is done.  For Human Growth and Development I'm writing about Language Acquisition and how it happens to children their 1st language and how it happens to adults and children for their 2nd language.  For Intro to Human Services, I'm writing about the struggle of being a Latino in the United States.  I'll mostly be covering poverty and discrimination and how those affect Latinos.  Research is always a pain, writing won't be hard though.  I really love how the goals for my classes aren't to study for hours on end, but rather, learn a lot and then apply it to things in my research papers.

Good news, I have something else that might prepare me for the future.  I had an interview at Intercept Youth Services as a Therapeutic Mentor, which is basically a mentor/life-coach/counselor kind of thing... I'm so excited.  Anyway, the interview went great and I was offered the job.  Now, they're doing background checks and checking my references.  I know nothing will turn up bad, but I've gotten my hopes up before about jobs and nothing panned out, so I'm just hoping with the knowledge that it still might not happen.  If it does happen, I'll be giving one on one mentoring to kids and helping them overcome big behavior issues they have.  They told me that if I stay with them until after I graduate they will help me become QMHP certified.  That means Qualified Mental Health Professional.  I found out that it means a clinician in the human services field who has experience and training providing mental health and psychiatric assistance to people with psychiatric disorders.  I will qualify when I have a year experience.  I don't even need the master's to get that certification, but the master's will definitely help me in life. So, that's really good news, and I pray that it works out well.  God always provides, so regardless, I'm going to be fine.


I'll try to write more, even though we all know that means I probably won't.

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

What do they think?

To me, cultural differences are one of the most interesting things.  I even think some stereotypes are interesting, ignorant or not.  I did some searching to find out what English people think of Americans.

What do they think?
The first source I found was a more educated, internet article from The New York Times.
The stereotypes mentioned were:
    -  Everyone carries guns
    -  Loud
    -  Country-bumpkins

The writer found when he visited the United States that Americans don't all cary guns, they aren't all rednecks and that they are hospitable, friendly, very polite and offer thanks for almost every service.  Another thing I thought was interesting is he said that we are very charming, but you don't always notice it as charm.  He talks about the charm in terms of friendliness.  He mentions his flight back to England.  When you sit down next to someone on an airplane, you say hi and possibly start a conversation, the English aren't much for that.  He also talks about where he plays tennis in England.  When he starts to play a game or is leaving a game, almost no acknowledgement of the other person is made.  In the United states, the is unacceptable and inconceivable.

The writer of that article mentioned something interesting about the "loud" American stereotype.  The thought is that Americans have no fear of being overheard.  He said most English assume that everyone loathes each other and just keeps it in and to open your mouth is basically to offend others.  So they talk quietly so they're not overheard.  Americans have no fear of offending others by saying just about anything because of freedom of speech.  That is why Americans generally speak louder; it's a little deeper than just being annoying and loud.


My next resource is a less educated, forum-style source.  I don't mean less educated as in dumb, but less educated meaning it's opinions of real people.

The first response talks about how we're generally looked down on for our "right wing" ideals and because of those, how poorly we deal with our poor and jobless.  He mentions our media being very skewed.  He talks about how only 1 in 10 Americans have a passport, yet claim the U.S. is the best country in the world, but know nothing of the rest of the world.  There are apparently a lot of jokes about our obesity as a nation, yet he acknowledges that England isn't far behind at all.

Here are some other stereotypes and thoughts about Americans:
    -  Ignorant and arrogant
    -  Our TV is most people's eyes into our culture and it portrays us as stupid and obese
    -  Racist
    -  Polite and friendly
    -  Cousins

Accents
Another very important factor in what they think of us is the difference between accents.

My first source is another forum-style website with some interesting thoughts and examples on spelling and pronunciation.  The first post is asking the English people on the message board to be honest about their opinions of American English based off of their interactions with Americans, not based off what the hear on TV.  He knows a lot of Englishmen who think that Americans have murdered the pure Queen's English.  He wants to know if they view us as lesser and lower social standing because of how we speak.

The first response mentions differences in pronunciation and spellings.  He gives us the following as examples:
British:        American:
colour         color
plough        plow
theatre        theater
analyse       analyze
centre         center

He also points out the difference between the British "aluminium" (al-you-min-e-um) and the American "aluminum" (ah-loo-min-uhm).

Another poster says that there is a campaign in action trying to make sure that English words aren't replaced by American.  Many people dislike that American spellings are being used instead of English.

There are many counter responses talking about how spell-check and teachers will mark your words as wrong if you use the British spellings.  We have strong rules enforcing our spelling here, so we can't just change them now.  Another person said they love the freedom that our language has linguistically.


My last source is another forum where someone asked what the English think of our accents.

The first response was full of compliments.  The person said that the southern style is: melodic, colourful and charming, the northern style is clever and refined and the Californian style is laid back and smooth.

Surprisingly, a lot love the southern accent.  But, similar to Americans, a lot of people hate it.  I love it.

A few people mentioned, that to English ears, American English sounds nasally.  They also said it's hard for them to understand a lot of our accents clearly.

One person said it is a cute accent because we smile a lot when we talk.


I just wanted to show you all what the world thought about you from an English standpoint.  I hope it was interesting and not too nerdy for you!  You really should check out the links, with the exception of the first one, they're all really short and simple responses.

I'm a huge nerd

I have spent hours, probably days of my life looking up stuff like this.  It's so interesting to me...

I love different accents and I love different phonetic sounds languages make.

Oh where to begin?  I'm like a kid in a candy store on youtube with this stuff.

So here's the thing... since you speak English, you can't fully understand or appreciate all the sounds, the rhythm and the flow of your own native tongue... crazy right?  When you hear someone speak English, all you hear are words and you're too used to the rhythm and sounds to really point out the uniqueness.  I found two videos that just use the phonetic sounds of English to show what English would sound like to someone who doesn't know the language.

This first one is a super old song that was filmed for an Italian tv show.  The first bit before the music is Italian, but when the music starts you'll hear what English sounds like to non-speakers.  You will think you hear words, and some of the sounds do kinda make words, but it's all gibberish.  Unfortunately, it's blocked from being used on blogger, so you need to go to youtube... but it's worth watching.

The crazy thing I noticed from that video is that is how many "d, g, b and j" sounds there are in English.  I always thought it was kind of a harsh language, but all the sounds are pretty soft.  The rhythm is a little jerky though.

This second one is similar, but it's spoken instead of sung.  Sorry, they for some reason do cuss a little even though it's supposed to be gibberish.  But, it's a really cool example to what it might be like if you were at a restaurant in America, and you didn't speak English, and you heard it being spoken at the table next to you.

The first time I watched this, I really thought they were speaking English but I couldn't hear it, so I kept turning up my speakers.

Next, I'm going to show you some different accents within our own language, it's beautiful how many variations there are in English alone.

This woman is just super impressive.

I saw this next video a long time ago.  I don't know why, but I think it's funny, when in reality, it's probably kinda stupid.  I am guessing he has his own web show, I had never heard of him.  But he is challenged to speak in his best American accent on some show that was trying to raise money for a charity.  His accents aren't really great, but it's kinda funny still and he has fun while doing it.  It starts about 51 seconds into the video if you wanna skip a bit of talking.

This next one shows a good example of a variation between British English and American English.  It's called the glottal stop.  A lot of times, in British English, letters just seem to disappear.  For example: the word "butter" could become "buh-er."  There are also some pretty good stereotypes in this, kinda funny.

Okay, I know I just gave you a bunch of nerdy, long, boring videos, but like I said in these posts: Why be Bilingual- parts one, two, and three, I really think there are just so many interesting things about language.  The intricacy and beauty that languages have, even our own, is just overwhelming to me.  I might revisit this later, I'm sure I'll watch more videos soon.

Author

Last night I took about a 45 minute walk just to think.  I needed to get out, think things through and clear my head.  I wanted to listen to something on my iPod that I knew would foster thinking, so I chose to listen to My Epic.  Every time I listen to their music, I learn something new.

Honestly, lately I've been terrified of not finding my place in the world and in God's plan when I graduate.  I'm afraid I'll have a heap of loans and no way to pay them off and no way to make the world better.  A lot of people, that I graduated high school with, aren't doing much at all, and I'm afraid I'm going to fall into that.

This song hit me, I don't know if it really helped me with that problem, maybe it did.  But, it reminded me that anything good, true and beautiful that I do, is only because of God.  I can't keep trying to do things on my own.  I mentioned it in this post with that line about my plans, being bright as a billion stars, are never really that bright at all.  Any thing that I seek out to do, will not be worthwhile unless God is behind it.  Anything good, true or beautiful I do, is not by my doing, because those are qualities God has.

Another line that struck me was the one that said "I'm tired of striving to be, who You already say that I am.  I am Yours."  That line really sums up what I'm seeking a lot, I strive to be God's child.  I already am God's child because God said so.  There is nothing I can do to earn that, it's freely given to me.  I really just need to chill and be with God.  God has me in His hands and I'm already doing His will if I'm seeking Him out, I just need to trust that everything will go well.

I know that didn't go anywhere, but those are just some thoughts I needed to write out.

Give the song a listen:

My Epic- Author

I have nothing new to say. The world is so terribly big, it keeps spinning and shaking loose all my constants and making me see that the sun has been burning too long to have not shed its light in every direction.

All I know is that beautiful in me is You... beautiful in me is You.

(All... I... know...) Every good thing, every true thing, beautiful in me is You, beautiful in me is You.

(All... I... know...) Every good thing, every true thing, beautiful in me is You, beautiful in me is You.

(All... I... know...) Every good thing, every true thing, beautiful in me is You, beautiful in me is You.

I see a thousand young men, they're all marching in time with the war on their doorsteps and their lovers behind them, and all of their glory flows back to their master, but they care not for honor, for they wear His robes.

I'm tired of striving to be, who You already say that I am. I am Yours...

Take what You need to take, say what You need to say to make me who I am meant to be, You can have it all. Take what You need to take, say what You need to say to make me who I am meant to be, You can have it all.