Tattoo

On Friday I woke up just like any other day. Got out of bed, went and hung out with some friends that came down for the weekend, and then ran a few errands. But the entire time I was looking forward to what was going to happen later in the day, my first tattoo. I've always been fascinated by the idea of having one, especially one that means something to me. I'd never tattoo something on to my body that I wasn't comfortable with having for the rest of my life. I decided to get a tattoo called "Wawa Aba". Wawa Aba means "seed of the Wawa Tree". The seeds are extremely hard, and don't break easily, which is why the tattoo means what it does. It's an African tribal symbol that represents a person who is strong and tough, and it's supposed to inspire those who wear it to persevere through any hardship. Perseverance, to me, is the most important attribute any human being can possess, because if a person perseveres then they will never fail. I was nervous that it would hurt, but once the artist started putting it on the nerves were relieved. It felt more like if I had a bad sunburn and someone took a mechanical pencil and tried to write on me, more of an annoying feeling then a painful one. Now that I have it I love it, and I'll probably be going back to get more eventually.

New Job

Remember how I decided that I wasn't going to put up with the stuff that went on at my job? Well, I decided that day to put in my two weeks and begin the long and painful process of job searching. I finished out my two weeks at Hyundai, and became yet another statistic for the unemployed. Finding another job was much easier then I expected though. Within a week of leaving Hyundai, I was already hired at Kia to be a technition. At Hyundai I was a detailer, meaning I cleaned the cars and made everything that came through look brand new. But as a tech, I'm one of the guys who works on them now, and fixes whatever issue there may be. I make a dollar extra each hour, and work far better hours in a much less stressful environment. Kia is slow paced, nothing like Hyundai's non-stop flood of customers, so most of the time I'm sitting around doing nothing and getting paid for it. I love this job because of the pace, the hours, the pay, and the fact that I love cars. I originally thought that quitting Hyundai would be a bad decision, but it turns out to be one of the best I've ever made.

Denny's Service

Two of my friends and I decided to go to Dennys at 4 AM last night. The food was miraculous of course, but the service on the other hand, was below sub-par. We ordered and sat, chatted with a few random people in there, and expected our food to be done. Little did we know how long it would actually take. We sat there for what felt like an hour, just waiting for three to-go meals. I was beyond hungry, so it felt as if my stomach was eating itself apart. As I said, the food was supurb, but the wait makes me not want to make the trip back there again. I guess I can't really complain because it was 4 AM, and not many places are open at that early hour. Surprisingly, the place was packed, probably full of kids who were drunk, or stoned, or messed up in some way. I also noticed that it was under-staffed, probably putting a strain on the tired employees. I personally wouldn't want to be the unfortunate one stuck working there at that hour, so I'm not really going to hold the people there responsible. I'm just glad I got some great food to eat.

Tallahassee

This weekend I took a trip up to Florida State University to see a couple of my buddies. I've only been here for a couple hours and a night and so far it's amazing! I've seen so many friends that I haven't seen since middle school here, catching up with them has been great. I went to a FSU party last night and had a blast. I haven't even got to go to one at USF yet, but I'm not sure that it could compare to here. I came up to Tallahassee to check out the school as well because I'm thinking about transferring here next summer. The reason for that is because it's much further then the one hour drive from my house, which gives me freedom and really makes me feel like I'm on my own. Everybody here is just as friendly as people from USF, which will make the transition easy, and I think that I know a lot more people here then I realize. The campus is a gorgeous, all brick structure, which makes the school look old but historic at the same time. Florida State is an amazing school and I think I'm going to choose to switch here next summer.

Project 1: Reflection

    The entire project, as a whole, has really introduced me to the world of college writing. Before this, I knew how to do MLA format, and cite sources, but not how to do an annotated bibliography on those sources. I was taught how to evaluate a source and how to use certain aspects of the source, such as statistics and other citations, to determine if the source is credible or not. As for the Expository essay portion of the project, I learned that there's more then one type of expository essay. I've always been taught to just explain what I'm writing about for an expository essay. But in Project 1, I was introduced to the styles of compare and contrast, explanation, cause and effect, and chronological ordering. I can write an essay comparing two aspects of the topic, explaining the topic itself, showing why the topic occured, or what it caused to happen, and the order of events that led up to the topic. I realize Project 1 has only scratched the tip of the iceburg as far as college papers, because it's only an introduction to Composition 1, which will only become more challenging. However, after writing the paper, I believe project 1 has expanded my writing ability for expository essays, giving me many options to choose from for the style of the paper, and outlining the set-up of the thesis, body paragraphs, and closing paragraph.

First College Test

    Everybody has warned me about how hard college tests are. They all say that I need to study, and that it's nothing like the easy high school tests that required no effort to get an A. I took these warnings in to consideration before today's test. Today happened to be my first college test ever, and as I walked in to the room to take it, I couldn't help but feel prepared. The funny thing is, I didn't even study for it. I decided it would be best to try to do this test just like I did all of my high school tests, and not study and psych myself out for it. I figured that I'd learn the hard way if it was indeed a much harder foe then I imagined. However, I found the test to be remarkably easy. I think I passed with a great grade and didn't really have any trouble with it. I know that this isn't going to be the case for all of the tests, and I will study, but it's nice to have the first one be relatively simple. The grades should be up on Blackboard by tomorrow, so I can see what I got, but I believe its within the A to B range. College has been great so far, and it just keeps getting better and better.

Sleep Deprivation

     One of the most important things a person can have is a good nights rest. It makes the following day much better and seem smoother. It also puts people in to a good mood or helps prevent them from being thrown in to a bad one. I am not one of those lucky people who get a good nights rest everyday. Sadly, I can't ever sleep, and I'm not sure of the reason why. I am physically active, always playing sports, working, or doing school work, so I expect that I'd be tired enough to close my eyes and drift away. However, that's not the case. I am always tired at night, extremely tired at that, but I can't ever seem to actually fall asleep. Instead I lay there, not even thinking about anything, just staring at the inside of my eyelids. The days that follow are always hard, feeling physically and mentally exhausted, unable to pay attention to the simplest details, and even zoning out while driving. I suppose an easy fix for this problem would be to take sleeping pills, to help coerce my body to shut down, but I don't believe in taking pills to fix problems. I'm not sure why I can't sleep, but I will get to the bottom of it, and it won't be with the help of a "sleep-aid".