Always on the Clock

          My father is 65 years old, and worked as a police officer in New Jersey, and California for about 15 years. It is immensely apparent that his work as a police officer is apart of his identity. After seeing some of the things he has seen, and experiencing the different scenarios, he will always be a police officer at heart.
          It is amazing how good this man is at reading people. He can pick someone out of a crowd, and explain how just some of the little things that person does, reveals that they are up to no good. He is also very thought based when he is in a predicament. Before he tries anything, he thinks long and hard about what would make it easiest, fastest, and most efficient. All the qualities that made him an excellent police officer, he still uses today.
          One of the biggest qualities that sticks out the most in my father is his skepticism. He is not one who trusts easily. Someone has to prove to him that they are trustworthy before he will trust them. It gets annoying at times because he tends to be negative a lot and skeptical about doing certain things, but his time as a cop made him like this. It is very easy to see that he was an excellent cop because he is right about 95% of the time on his hunches. His time in the field of law enforcement may have stopped, but his police officer mentality will always be a part of him.

Working in the Shadows...Literally

          There is a television show called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC in which a group of people practically rebuild a house for families in bad situations. They remodel the house inside and out, change the front and back yards around, and all sorts of things to do what ever they can to make the families lives easier.
          When they do this, there are hundreds of people helping, designers, people in the neighborhood, and all the companies that sponsor the show help out. It is almost a guarantee that some of these workers are immigrants. But the only people that are really seen are the main designers of the show. The immigrants are not really noticed, along with 80 percent of the workers.
          It is understandable that they can't show everyone working, but people just need to appreciate the people who put forth all this effort. There are not only immigrants on the show 'Working in the Shadows' but many people who help out with the renovations.

Procrastination

          This is one area that has always been a problem for me. I always find myself waiting until last minute to complete tasks. There are periods of times that I go on a rampage and really focus on my work constantly and make sure that comes first. I need to do my best to make sure that work is my first priority and always comes before play.
          Furthermore, I need to improve on setting my priorities and making sure my work gets done. These past two weeks I have found myself going to skate, or hangout with my friends before doing my work. Also, I have been completing my journals the night before they are do. I need to either get my work done right after class so I have the day to my self.
          Moreover, I want to be able to budget my time between, work, sleep, and play appropriately. In addition to going off with my friends, I have found myself sleeping before I do my work. Now indeed everyone needs their sleep, but I really need to start focusing on my work first. All I need is a solid week of committing to these ways and it will become a routine and run like clockwork.

Independence in Writing

According to the learning inventory, I have an independent and social learning style. It states that an independent learner can pull ideas together earlier and finds it easy to write from experience. I fit right into that category. After reading the results, it dawned upon me that I do find it easy to produce ideas and most of my writing is from experience.
I don't think that I learned anything new about my learning style. It was just brought to my attention the kind of writer I really am. It made me realize the way I write, it served as a reminder. It was not anything new, I just never thought of my writing and the way I produce ideas. I find that these characteristics work for me.

High School V.S. College

          On a personal level, I love college way more than high school. College is much different from high school on many levels. Once a student has reached this level of schooling, there is no more getting off easy, it's either done right or not at all. The classroom atmosphere is also much different. A college classroom is much more serious and about learning than a high school classroom.
          Also, the syllabi in college are more strict and organized than in high school. I love how in a college syllabus everything for the entire semester is planned out. This allows a student to make sure they stay on top of there work no matter what the circumstance may be.
          Lastly, the assignments in college seem more logical and topic related than high school work. Although the assignments in college are mostly independent so far, they require me to analyze and actually learn things, make assumptions, and think thought provoking questions. I have to say I am a much larger fan of the college educational system than the high school systems.

How I Read

          To start, I have never been much of a reader at all. For me, I tend to only read what I absolutely have too, I'm not really a fan of leisurely reading. This mostly has to do with the fact that I have terrible comprehension skills. I only enjoy and comprehend something 100% is when I am reading a book or magazine that truly appeals to me.
          Moreover, when I do read I usually like to be any place where I am not around any people, or any distractions so I can focus on comprehending what I'm reading. As far as time fits into the equation I like to read whenever I have the time to read. I would probably read a lot more if I used reading as a for of release but I don't really use reading as a form of relaxation, it is actually stressful to me. Especially considering I read immensely slow and I'm always questioning what I just read.
           All in all, I do enjoy reading when I can relate myself to the topic or when the topic really catches my attention and appeals to me. I admit it is a mistake not making reading a larger part of my life in the past since I struggle because of it now. However, as long I have a place to myself to just read and absorb the material I feel that reading is not so bad after all.

My Expectations

          Around January of this year I was informed of my acceptance into the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. More importantly than that, I was given the privilege to attend the EOF summer program here at Stockton. This program gave me a preview of what college is really like, and it taught me many valuable characteristics that I will need to achieve my goals. Just a few words that fall on that list are discipline, focus, and determination. One of the main reasons any student should come it college is to get an education and that should always be remembered. I to remember this throughout my years at Stockton and use the time spent here in the summer as a lesson, and use what I have learned to succeed in this institution.
          Furthermore, aside from the work end of the deal, I also expect to have fun. It is really the first big step for anyone. College is the time to see how a teenager can handle themselves on their own as an adult, no more handouts from mommy and daddy. I look forward to being molded into a much more mature grown up person while still being able to have a good time.
          All in all, my main expectation is that I want to discover myself while I am in college. I want to figure out who I really am, while having the potential to be more than I have ever expected. When it comes down to it, my expectations here at Stockton rely heavily on me and the decisions I make. It is all just a matter of finding out who I am.