First Midterm Update

So I know that it has been a long while since I have updated, but here it is.

College is going great. I am getting good grades and I am making friends quickly. On top of the whole college thing, i have been working every friday and saturday, and I love my job.

So those two factors alone have been contributing to a wonderful school year so far.

In more recent news (as of the last week) I have started a jump rope workout regimen. I know it doesn't seem like any big deal, but this jump roping burns. You would think that the only thing that would be sore from doing this would be your calfs from repeatedly jumping, but my abs, neck, and shoulders are KILLING ME. I love being sore, I should do it more often, but I loose focus much of the time on that portion of life. Hopefully this time will be different, but I doubt it.

Wait, I'm doubting myself right now, I need to slap myself in the face....okay I'm good now.

My new obsession is spending WAY TOO MUCH money on makeup. I don't know what is wrong with me. Maybe I'm starting to feel the power of spending my own money, but either way, it's bad.

During the urge of going makeup shopping I went into Ulta and talked to a makeup artist. I told her about my skin problems and my breakouts, and my over active oily skin. She gave me a new face regimen called Dermalogica Medibac Treatment.

Let me tell you, it has been one the best purchases in my entire history as a human being. I have tried and tested sooooooooo many acne treatments, over the counter and prescription, but nothing has ever been better than this. Literally, within three days of using it, my face is almost flawless. On top of the regimen, the makeup advisor told me about this skin care facial treatment that a trained professional from Dermalogica does to completely clean up your face. She said it's like a teeth cleaning for your face. It's not even that expensive, for over an hour of treatment it will cost 55 dollars. It might seem like a lot for some, but for me, I'm really willing to do it for BEAUTIFUL skin! So I have that appointment on Thursday. I'm excited.

One of the most influential moments that have happened since I last updated my blog, was the revelation about my major and career choice. After thinking about everything going on since the beginning of my freshman year of college, I decided to make a change in my field of study. I knew that I loved psychology, I knew that I loved history, and I knew that I have wanted to teach for some time now. So I put all those factors together and decided I wanted to be a secondary social studies teachers with a focus in psychology. To do this I would have to major in secondary social studies education with a minor in psychology. Right now at this very second I am waiting for an email from one the education professors to come to talk to them about my schedule for next semester. I  am extremely excited to find out what I will be taking.

As you can see from this updated blog post is that everything is going well. I love my job, I am doing well in school, and I am excited to start my new life after college.

Rethinking Things

So yesterday my dad sent me an email about psychology jobs and their median salaries that they make. Even though I basically already knew the facts about what I may possibly make I was still optimistic that I would make more; but after looking at the email, I started rethinking things. As a mental health counselor I wouldn't be making that much.
I know, I know, it's not all about the money, but sometimes it is. So right know I'm trying to think of different possibilities for career choices while still remaining in the psychology field (since I still love psychology).
Do I want to go into teaching? Do I want to go into industrial psychology? Do I want to go into human relations? Man, I'm starting to get nervous. I realize many students are going through the same thing I am, so I'm trying to relax myself. We'll I guess I'll go start the personality/career matching tests.

What is wrong with me?

So the past two mornings I have arrived at school way early. On Tuesday I showed up to school a little over an hour early and this morning I arrived two hours early. What is wrong with me?! I got up at 6:45 am, got to school at 9:05 am and I don't even have class until 11:20 am.
To be completely honest though, I get my best work done in the morning and I'm not rushing to get homework done that is due today, I'm trying to get ahead of the game by doing homework that is due tomorrow afternoon. There is meaning to my madness!
This morning (with my excess of two extra hours before class) I shall study anthropology and maybe get some finite done (I will probably save that for my lunch break though). After class ends at 3:45 pm I will then focus on reading my psychology chapter to prepare for my quiz tomorrow.

I discovered my new "zen" spot at school and in my town.
The second floor at the library at my school is the perfect place for me study. I have no distractions. I have a huge table to spread out my stuff. I have all the resources I could need all around me. It's perfecto!!
While at home I cannot get any studying there, so yesterday I discovered my new favorite study place, the public library. I know...it's not like I discovered something amazingly great that is going to change the world for all students, but I never thought it would be a great place for me to study since I tend to "people watch" in many public places.
All in all college is going well (It's only going to be my third day, but hey...it could be worse). I'm not "half-assing" any of my work (excuse my french), and I'm working hard at my work so I can get "gggggrrrrrreat" (as Tony the Tiger would say) grades.

By the way, does anyone have good advice for me as I start my first semester in college? It would be a great help to have inside advice from college graduates! Thanks!

Here's the Gist

So here's the gist, the first two days of college were a great starting experience (even though I have not exactly socialized with anyone really yet). I found all my classes extremely easily considering it's a fairly small campus, I had all my materials ready, I'm finding pretty decent parking spaces, and I'm understanding the material being taught (minus finite math, but I'll get to that later).
Here's the gist of my classes in a nutshell
Spanish: I'm ahead of the game considering I took three years of Spanish in high school. I'm basically focusing on reviewing.
English: I'm a little more laid back considering it has no intense focus on literature like AP English did last year. I'm excited to purely focus on my writing abilities.
Finite: Yeah, first of all, over half the class was late considering we were waiting outside the classroom and she only opened up one door, and the rest of us were oblivious to the happening. We finally found our way into the classroom. I'm extremely happy that it was over half the class that was late and not just me. After the tardiness to class, I walk in and my professor was foreign, great... I have a hard time understanding accents (I have the most trouble with Asian accents, but my Professor is Eastern European I think, so I'll catch on eventually). But even without the trouble of understanding translating the accent, I couldn't completely grasp the lesson on the first day of class! Whatever though, I'll teach myself, I'll catch on, no worries.
Anthropology: I'm really excited about this class. Out of all my professors, I'm most excited about this professor. He seems very inspirational and he knows his stuff! He actually told us that this his 40th year being a professor...WOW!!!
Psychology: This was supposed to be the class I'm most excited about considering it is my major, but my professor seems completely clueless on how to teach. He took the powerpoint that was premade by our psychology books publishers and read it to us. He added no supplemental information to assist us at all. He seems to have the personality of a rock...and we have a quiz/test over chapter one Thursday already! I guess that's college though...oh well, It'll be fine.
All in all, college is a big change and for the better. Don't quote me on this but I'm actually excited to study and learn this first semester.

Job Searching is a Pain

So as my senior year of high school winds down, the summer job search begins. It's crunch time for this high school horror story; the reason I have to find one now is because all the college students are coming home in the next couple weeks and they are going to be taking all the jobs available in the tri-town area!
I need to rush!!
Here is what I applied to so far
1. T.G.I Fridays
2. Ulta (two different locations)
3. Shadowing job at a hospital
4. Hospital Volunteering
Numbers one and two and normal high school student jobs, but I wanted to expand my horizen by trying to find something that will help me in the future with my career path. Even though there's no money involved the experience will be worth it.
As I might have said before, I'm interesting in going into the field of counseling psychology; so it may make sense to get a volunteering or shadowing job in the psychology department at a hospital. That would be so interesting for me.
And if worse comes to worse, if I don't like it I can change my major before school even starts! Presto! It's a win-win situation for this girl right here!
If God's on my side with this whole summer job thing, I can shadow at the hospital AND get a part-time job at Ulta being a consultant. That would be my summer dream job-combination.
I might go into Ulta today to talk to the manager since I applied to the store online. It makes sense to go in the talk to the manager, considering I'm applying to a makeup store and they want someone who actually wears makeup and enjoys it.
So wish me luck!

Advising Appointment!

It's official, tomorrow I will be scheduling my classes for my freshman year in college. I'm so excited, nervous, joyful, and a little more nervous.
When I called to make the appointment I had to make three big life decisions in a row!
First Question,
Major: Psychology
Second Question,
B.S. or B.A.: B.S.
Third Question,
Pre-med or non pre-med: non pre-med

See! Those were some (non permanent and changeable) life decisions!
My next feat for tomorrow will be figuring out where to park. When I took my placement test my friend, Sidney, and I had guest parking passes, but now I have NOTHING! I don't want to get fined! That would be horrible. So I definitely have to call tomorrow to ask them where the heck to park tomorrow!

So all in all, tomorrow is a big day for me, and I'm excited (and nervous). It's a big step in my life and another big step away from high school (thank god).

AP Psychology Final

So right now I am in the process of completing my AP psychology final. The final consists of making a PowerPoint of doing a psychological analysis of the movie The Social Network which is one of my favorite movies.
The only thing I have covered in the movie right now is the fact that Mark Zuckerberg might have had Aspergers.
I'm scared to put that though because this is not a fictional movie, this is non-fiction (for the most part) and I do not want to state something that extreme if it is not even true. But for the sake of my grade, I'm going to put that.
So I'm one down and nine to go with my psychological analysis points. So wish me good luck!
(p.s. this project isn't due until April 25, so I have some time)

notecards, notecards, notecards

So its 1:41 a.m. right now and I'm still up. Why you may ask?
Well let me tell you...
I got home from working after school at 4:00 p.m. and I was exhausted so I decided to take a nap up in my room. Little did I know that I was going to fall asleep for three and a half hours...
And little did I plan that I would be up for HOURS studying for AP Psychology for a linguistics and developmental test tomorrow.
Six hours later, I'm about ready to wrap up the hard working night and go to sleep. But then I realize that my vocabulary notecards are due tomorrow (yes, my teacher checks them like we are three yrs. old, but it's easy points). For safety purposes, I decided to check to make sure I had them.
Without a doubt or a worry in my mind I nonchalantly pull out my notecards but realize I'm missing half of a chapter. I quickly look through my notecard holder (yes, indeed I have one of those) and they're not there. Then I look through my Myers Psychology book, and they aren't there either. I look through my folder, and yet again they are not there.
Destine to find these M.I.A notecards I decided to double and triple check EVERYWHERE for these notecards. My main goal was to not have to go back and rewrite an hours worth of pointless work. Then I decide to look for the forth time and I found them!
Guess where they were...
They were in my hand...
Just kidding, but that would have been extremely funny; but no...
They were in my book. I just didn't see them all FOUR TIMES I LOOKED!
I guess even with the over abundance of caffeine in my system, I still cannot function at two in the morning.

The same old thing all over again.

I feel like my whole blog is revolved around this same old post; and it goes like this...
Dear April Dolores,
You need to stop creeping on facebook at your old friends from Illinois. You need to shut down your computer and start working. Without studying you will get a bad grade on your Intelligence Unit in AP Psychology. And without a good grade in Psychology you will not get a 5 on your AP exam in May. This would totally suck, considering you will be majoring in Psychology in College which is only a semester away.
So all in all, go back to studying pages 171-194 for an open notes quiz and then go studying your intelligence notes from Chapter 11.
Thanks,
okay,
goodnight,
bye.

Concentration

Nothing is more annoying than trying your hardest to concentrate and you cannot at all. I'm not ADD or ADHD but I just dedicated myself to AP Psychology for over an hour and I couldn't do a thing. I hoping my brain will change things up and allow me to study in the morning before my test in fourth hour.
I'm saying a little prayer that this will work. I have an A- and I cannot afford to receive a B in this class!
HELP!