Time Management Involving a J O B!

As you all should know, college isn't cheap. and most people in college end up getting a work study and work on campus or get a job working somewhere else. Well I was in the same predicament, I was offered a job at the Eli Whitney Museum. I had worked their over the summer and throughout high school I would work during the weekends, but now they were offering me a pretty much part-time job after school. It was totally my choice so I decided to accept the offer and see how things would go.
Since I got out of school practically everyday at around noon I would leave from campus and head straight over to the Museum to get started. But thats when things normally got a little tricky. Primarily because I would still have homework and studying that I would need to do for the next day of class and at the same time I would be working from noon till around 6 or 7, not to mention all of the normal duties I would have to take care of when I got home. So time management with a job just made things a little more difficult. But in the end I worked something out with my boss to where I would be able to work at 1 and get most of my homework done at the Museum before I started working for that hour. So things ended up turning out okay. But for those of you who don't have that option to do your school work before you had to go "work" I commend you, because its not the easiest thing to do. And it isn't and easy task for me to accomplish  now. But in order to get what I want in college and if I want to have some money in my pocket for things like; a car, clothes, and just general essentials. I'm going to have to ride it out until something better pops up.

-Captain DJ

-College Superhero

Outcasts United Post

When I was told at orientation that I would have to read a book, I was so bummed. I mean I don't think anyone was relatively "thrilled" at the thought of having to read over the summer. And it wasn't number one on my list of things to do. But eventually I pained my way through the book.
Outcasts United was pretty much about a group of refugees that were forced to move from their homes in the Middle East and sent to the small town of Clarkston, Georgia. The group of kids that were forced to move ended up playing soccer for their town and it basically talks about the transformation of the town as a whole and how their charismatic female coach Luma taught them values and brought them together as a group.
It wasn't one of my favorite books by a long shot but it wasn't a horrible read either. Not something I would recommend to others, just because it wasn't really a book that I myself would pick up and read unless I was asked to. But if you want to check it out, once again the book is called Outcasts United and was written by Warren St. John.

Links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR2009041701377.html

http://www.outcastsunited.com/

-Captain DJ

-College Superhero

Reading "Ain't So Bad After All... Sometimes.

Reading was never my forte (if thats how you spell it) I mean I'm okay with reading when its on my time, but when I'm forced to read... thats a different story. So as you can expect when I was told that I would have to read AND RESPOND to a couple of website posts about thinking and whatnot, I was a little turned off. But I found one of the articles we had to read pretty interesting. It was entitled "10,000 Hours for Success" The gist of the story was that to achieve "excellence" at a particular task a minimum of 10,000 hours over your life span must be spent practicing and perfecting the task itself. I found that idea really interesting. Also the theory that "O nce you have enough talent to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works". (I'll leave a link of where the information came from at the bottom of the blog.) But i just found it interesting that they have set a specific amount of time in which once you have came to or surpassed your considered "excellent at or even a genius at that specific task". I mean I consider the idea of spending the 10,000 hours would make you great at the task, but there has to be a certain amount of sheer skill that is needed to make you "excellent" at the task. But who knows, maybe through spending that amount of time working at the task you "become" great at the task. 
I began to ponder how many hours a day people spend listening to music or playing a video game or even texting, I mean accumulatively there have to be people out there that spend dedicated time to doing such things but I still dont feel that they should be considered "a texting genius" or something of the sort.
I think the time can't just be spent doing the task but it has to be dedicated time to getting BETTER at the task. For example: tons of people play video games, but lots of people only play video games for fun; not to get better, not to become a master at it, just for fun. So I feel that if your just playing for fun and you play way past 10,000 hours you may get better but wont be considered excellent. While on the other hand there are people out there that will genuinely set aside time for them to practice and attempt to become better at playing that specific video game, and if all of those 10,000 hours are spent attempting to become better and trying to become the best than by the time they are finished I feel like they would be considered that "excellent gamer" "gaming genius".


link to website: http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com/2008/11/17/outliers-10000-hours-for-success/

-Captain DJ

-College Superhero

"Challenge" is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

College, College, College. Its SO different from the whole "high school scene" especially considering the fact that this college superhero lives off campus. I was so in my comfort zone as a senior in high school but the whole idea of becoming a freshman again and having to meet ALL NEW PEOPLE, ALL OVER AGAIN was just stressful, and don't even get me started on my thoughts on the amount of work I expected to have my 1st week of classes. I mean and movies never really help, you could one minute watch one movie about college and how it was the most interesting time of their life: parties left and right, friends all around, classes were a breeze, but then the next minute you could watch a movie about college where the kid is having the most miserable time: failing almost all his classes, on academic probation, always alone, no friends, the list goes on. But I didn't want to be that person, I wanted to be the guy that would enjoy his college experience and I would start on a good note with coming into my first week of college with a positive state of mind and attempting to stay on top of my work.
And now I bring you to my first challenge as a college freshman (if that first paragraph wasn't enough). I walked into my freshman Western Civilization class and by the end of the class I was told we were going to have a quiz on the WHOLE MAP OF EUROPE at the beginning of the next week of classes! That made my heart sink especially considering that I wasn't very fond of the map of Europe (hell I can just barely remember all the states in America).
But this wasn't one of those happy ending stories where the kid studies really hard and ends up with an "A" in the end, because at the end of the day life just doesn't always happen like that. But I did better than I expected. I mean I got a "D" not the grade I would have wanted, not by a long shot but it was the first time I had realized how "studying" was so important in college. I mean in high school when you have a quiz or a test you spend some time in class going over the basics of what would most likely appear on the test. But in college its the exact opposite, you would get the notes for the quiz in class and the rest was up to how well you study, and how well you could retain your information and spit it all out on a test.
*sigh* Well in conclusion that "D" made me realize that I would have to figure out a more efficient and effective way of studying if I wanted to pass for the semester. I haven't figured that one completely out yet, but I will eventually. But on the brighter side, I get to take the test over so hopefully I'll do better the next time.

-Captain DJ

-The College Superhero!

Setting the Tone for the Semester!

To me, College is just another chapter in my “comic book” to success. College is an accomplishment but isn’t my ultimate goal. the idea of becoming a college student was VERY INTIMIDATING before I got here. I mean, there were a bunch of different thoughts going through my head, (about meeting people, classes, the amount of work i was going to have) but once I got here it was kind of like slaying the beast. I came in with a mindset that i could handle this and I did. But more academically college means that I will have to continue to push myself and try harder in the classroom to ultimately achieve my goal. Also being in college to me personally will help me to finally figure out what I want to do in my life. I mean I have a couple of ideas of what i might like to do, (become a writer, actor, comedian, game designer) but those are still in the “idea” phase and aren’t set in stone yet. I just hope that out of this college experience that I can achieve academic, social, and personal success. I mean being a college student means a lot to me. And potentially graduating will mean A LOT more. Just getting accepted to the University though was a personal accomplishment. It made me feel a lot more confident. It made me feel like I could do this thing called “College” and I could pass. And in passing and graduating from the University I feel like I would be completing the next chapter in my “comic book”.

-Captain DJ

-College Superhero

Getting to know the College Superhero!

Family: Family is VERY IMPORTANT to me. I love my family and all the people in it. I mean without my family I probably wouldn’t be the lovable, funny, easy-going type of guy I am today. I tend to spend a lot of time with my family because they’re so important to me. At least twice a week I’m doing something somewhere with my Mom, Dad, and little Brother. Family=Importance!

[My cousins and I Summer 10'] 

Friends: My friends are so AWESOME! I would do anything for my friends.My friends are like the exact opposite to my family in some ways. They show me the same love as if they were family, but at the same time I can do and be myself around them 100%. I love my pals. Lol.

[Friends. You gotta love em']

Humor: Humor is also a BIG part of my life. I love to laugh. My philosophy is “why spend time being upset, when you can be happy. Life is too short”. I love being funny, making people laugh, doing things that keep people happy. Its like I find enjoyment in making other people laugh. Others laughter makes me laugh. And “if your not laughing, your not living”- Carlos Mencia

Music: Music makes my life so EXCITING. I mean I’m not really good at making music but listening to it makes me happy. Music in general puts a smile on my face. I mean I don’t necessarily have any preferences but every and anything with a good sound is most likely on my iPod. I <3 music. 

Creativity: I always considered myself a creative person. One who always LOVED to think outside of the box. I was never really the type of guy to get his “style” from someone else. I always liked to go out and try new things. I mean most people don’t like to be considered different, but me on the other hand, being different makes me special. And special is the new cool. =]

-Captain DJ      

-College Superhero