AP Study Week

On my final day of observation coach is absent because he is at a track meet. His substitute is a man in his mid-30's I think. The period starts off with pretty girl and delta nununu talking about a recent senior prank. Apparently someone had brought a couple of baby chickens to school and the administration was busy rounding them up around the school. I am glad to hear that the girls are worried about the chicks and agree that it was a bad prank. Green shirt, blonde girl, and sweatpants are absent today and the sub passes out the assignment (a practice test).  Black shirt and Everest are talking about someone being racist during this time and the three girls (pretty girl, lady, and long hair) are chatting together. After the assignment is passed out the sub stands in front of the class and observes them. Sophomore is talking about dual credit classes and says which of his classes had finals or just a paper due. Galaxy asks purple stripe if he is going to take the AP test. The sub then moves to the side of the class and looks at the board, which has some information on it about the current bell schedule. Sweatpants then walks into the class and the sub gives him the practice test. Sweatpants moves to sit down, but not before greeting tooth and galaxy.

For some time the class is working on the practice test and the class is silent. Everest gets out his binder and country girl starts to ask for help on the test. The sub moves to the big group and talks to them for a bit about the nature of the test before going back to his desk. Sweatpants gets up from his desk and gets another paper from the sub before sitting down. The class is mostly quiet but there is the occasional mummers of people asking each other and confirming assignment answers. Sweatpants gets up again and talks to the sub before heading out of the class. The usual big group is comparing answers with each other while galaxy glances over to them. Purple stripe, since the begging of class until now, is on his phone. Delta nununu gets up to throw away trash and I note that there are about 4 soft drink and 3 water bottles present in the class. Tooth glances over to the big group who are muttering a discussion to each other. Delta nununu is on her phone and Everest starts to hum for a bit before talking to black shirt. Someone's phone starts to violently vibrate and the class laughs a bit at the disturbance. The class then continues to work on the practice assignment (except purple stripe who is on his phone) and the sub is reading a book. Mustache and country girl are talking to each other when sweatpants comes back into the class. He makes a comment to the sub and to galaxy shirt before sitting back down. I can hear Everest, black shirt, and sophomore discuss the practice test together while I see sweatpants tearing apart a piece of paper for some reason? It is interesting to note at this time that country girl is currently wearing glasses; the previous times I came  to the class she was not wearing them.

The sub is still reading his book when sweatpants gets up from his desk to throw away the paper he was ripping apart. He then takes out his headphones and puts them on; him and purple stripe are now the only people in the class not working on the assignment. Suddenly, a lady comes into the class and talks to the sub for a bit before asking "anyone over 17 that want to donate blood?" disrupting the class peace. The students say no to the lady and I hear sweatpants jokingly say "I'm 14". After the lady leaves the sub makes a joke about giving blood, resulting in some giggles. The sub then goes back to reading his book while Everest, black shirt, country girl, and mustache start to discuss the test. This leads to a huge discussion that envelops the whole big group who eventually go on the topic about shooting guns. "country girl. its not rocket science" Everest says to country girl's opinion of the subject. The big group then goes back and forth discussing the test and talking about the presidential candidates. During this time lady gets up and hands in her test with long hair doing the same.

I begin to hear some comments from the big group: "we didn't learn most of this" "I know" "Nah I don't remember this". I feel for the guys. Quiet lady gets up and hands in her test. Pretty girl is the next to turn in her test and talks to the sub, throws her trash away, and exits the class. The big group is now talking about drinking and getting a beer gut. The sub checks his watch and galaxy shirt glances over to the big group. The sub then gets up and announces "you guys should finish up, you got 5 minutes". Delta nununu, tooth, and sweatpants turn in their paper (delta signs something on the desk) while the big group is talking about snacks. Pretty girl then walks back in the classroom and the sub goes over to the big group and collects their papers. The students then start to pack up and leave when the bell rings, ending this report.

Cell phones won't help you for life

It's a warm Monday morning, everyone is cramming in material for their final chance to pick up their grades as this is last week of school. Groups of people are talking and shouting at one another debating on an answer that is either wrong or right. Others quietly ignoring them through the use of their headphones but yet something feels odd about all of this. Everyone is on their cell phone looking at social media instead of studying or finishing last minute reports. There are a few that are quietly doing what is needed to be done but the others are lacking focus. I myself am studying but this is truly astonishing as a group of individuals in a study room are on their phone while there is another group quietly working with another outside to avoid disturbing those who are trying to work.

So much stress and anxiety is in the air and yet some people cannot comprehend their future is based on the actions they do at class. It's a time of judgement to slowly get rid of the weak and keep the strong. I am here focusing while others are seemingly on Facebook or Instagram hash tagging I hate finals week or here comes summer. Then you see the man who takes school seriously and is writing down an outline on what to study on what day and what to expect on the test. A couple with books and a labtop walk in and sit on the couch ready to study but soon both fall victim to the use of cellular devices. Once they start clicking away on their touch screens, nothing else matters and no words are spoken.

This generation is so accustomed to using a phone at hard times that it is a habit for most to pull it out and start texting or describing their feelings to everyone even if they are right next to them. It is unbearable to watch and sickening as those who are studying are getting a swift kick in the ass for those who talk and text in an area where there should be no noise. I luckily cannot hear a sound other then the music I am hearing on my headphones.  Those who are on scholarships might lose them and those who are not just found a way to pay for college. College is a time of focus and intelligence to see if you have what it takes to go through nights with nothing but two hours of sleep rather then blowing it off until the exam.

As I sit here criticizing those who are on their cell phones, I too fall victim by steadily taking it out to text my  friends on what I'm seeing here on campus. I quickly throw my phone in my backpack not caring what other people see and I finish what I have due by later tonight. I decide to take off in the end back home but as I am leaving those who were on their phones the whole time are seen stressing and yelling Ad for those who finished their studying or homework before hand are eating and ready to go home not worried a bit about the exam the next morning.

Welcome to college.

Finals Week

        It's the most wonderful time of the year, when we stress to the max, study continuous hours, and ruing your sleeping schedule. Some people might enjoy taking exams and others like myself we are disgusted by that horrible word. It is difficult to keep calm during such a stressful time, you cannot focus and do things the right way.

         Good thing I am not alone in this, all my class mates from different classes have the same struggle expect for the real smart students. Over reacting by thinking of what grade should be the appropriate to keep a high grade for the class. It comes to the point that you just want to drop off from school and from there to find another solution but in reality is not as easy as it sounds. I can tell it is difficult because of the example I have seen from my friends, that cannot handle with the pressure.

          At least the reason we fall into some much stress is because in personal opinion is that we are being tested on how bad we can handle the pressure with all the different weights put on our shoulders. As much as I dislike it it is true but either way I still don't like it since it feels awful to be over stressed with all the migraines and stomach aids. Thankfully the most effective thing that keeps our hopes alive for passing a class is the lottery ticket scholarships which also might be a little bit stressing but looking how all that money pays the courses and tuition is very relieving not to pay a single cent out of your own pocket.

Starbucks is always a nice place to be on a Sunday night especially if you are a student. But while today was filled with the usual students studying and working on homework. Today was a little different in terms of the overall crowd. Today there was a lot more non students in Starbucks. This is because of mothers day I think. It seemed as if a lot of the different crowd were moms or families getting some coffee. A lot of these families conversations were the same. It was a lot of what do you want mom? or happy mothers day mom we love you. Today showed me a different side of the Starbucks crowd. Even the usuals conversations were differing in topics. Today JS was in er spot working on homework as usual however someone was with her today. They would have an occasional conversation that I could over hear. The usual topic of what they did this weekend of course came up. However the interesting thing about today it seems to bring out everyones inner mommas boy or girl. They were both talking about how they missed their mothers today, how they wish that they could be with them today instead of here studying for finals and finishing up the last of their work. JS talks about how she can't wait to be home in Oregon with her family. How her family has a boat that she can't wait to be on out in the lake. She talks about how she is jealous that her family has already taken the boat out without her this year.

Hard Studies Just Might Pay Off

Another slow morning has fallen upon Blake’s. With only two people here besides myself this morning seems to be dragging on, and it’s only just begun. This is the first time that I have seen them here. The first specimen is a young woman around twenty to twenty-three years old by the looks of it.  She has red hair and wears in at shoulder length. Her attire includes a mid-thigh business skirt and a white button up shirt. Our second specimen is a middle-aged Mexican fellow. His hair is slicked back and his attire concludes a custodial, crimson, long sleeved shirt and blue wranglers.

            My best guess for “Red’s” major would have to be HRTM. This conclusion is drawn based on how she holds herself and how she dresses. Prior experiences in my life have shown these same patterns. As I analyze her I noticed that she is not eating and has only ordered a coffee. She points her attention towards her laptop and continues her studies. It appears that she is too far away to see what she is studying.

            I point my attention towards “Slick” and notice that he is simply staring out the window. As he stares I notice his mouth moving ever so slightly. By the looks of it he is counting the people that pass by. Perhaps he is as fond of “people watching” as I am. For about twenty minutes I notice him continuing this compulsive behavior. 

            Red is now looking through a stack of business cards. She reads one and looks up with one squinted eye trying to remember what the answer is. Shortly after, she turns the card around and has a silent victory. She repeats this task for the next fifteen minutes with only four cards that she has gotten incorrect. Looking at her stack of cards I would have to say there are at least a hundred of them. Sitting at the ninety-sixth percentile of her study session I would assume that she is a rather devoted student.

This wraps up my time at Blake’s and I must now go to class.

Day6 A chai

The couple that just walked into the coffee shop must be in their mid twenties as they approach the bar preparing to order. The young man orders a Chai late while the young woman orders what looks to be an oat chocolate chip muffin. As I watch the two I notice that the young man has a white little box that he is carrying. As the two get settled by the window in the coffee shop he pulls out what looks like a small chess board. As they set up the pieces I notice that the pieces seem to stick to the board leading me to believe that they are some how magnetized. I don’t think I have ever seen a couple sit and play chess before. Its been about 15 minutes now and their game is well underway and the young man has not yet received his drink. The way he shuffles in his chair and talks to the young woman seems to be in an annoyed manner. Shortly after his talk with her, she gets up, goes to the counter and asks the barista for the order and the expression that crosses his face screams embarrassment. The talk with his partner lead me to believe that he asked her to go ask about the coffee so he doesn’t have to show his distain for how long he has had to wait for his coffee. I have not yet seen seen a couple play chess much less a couple who seems to put so much thought into each move of the piece. As their game progresses they both make the muffin disappear. The conversation going back and forth and the looks on their faces leads me to believe that they are enjoying the company of one another. It’s a late hour with about an hour till close for the shop and they still have a trickle of people coming in for their product. It’s a very nice atmosphere, that reminds me so much of Santa Fe and the Taos area. It definitely leaves me with a feeling of wanting to come back and enjoy the atmosphere along with all the friendly smiles that seem to eagerly greet me. It must be the laidback atmosphere that has me wanting to come back and spend more of my time here.

Headphones Are A Wonderful Investment

The Asian male has a friend here today, that got here after him but is sitting on the table next to his. They say hello, talk to each other in another language for a minute, and then both begin to play on their cell phones. The girl with the purple backpack is here, sitting to my right. Jasmine’s boyfriend is here, alone this time, writing away in his notebook. A man in a grey shirt has chosen to sit next to the girl with the purple backpack, even though there are multiple tables still open. Grey shirt sits next to purple backpack, and starts telling her about his day. This causes me to assume they know one another. Once grey shirt is done talking and stressing about his history report due later today, he asks for purple backpack’s name. Once they exchange names and shake hands, he begins asking her where she is from and all kinds of personal questions. I guess I was wrong, because grey shirt and purple backpack do not know one another. Purple backpack likes California, so they talk about their likes/dislike of the state for a few minutes. As they talk, purple backpack looks a little more uncomfortable with every passing minute. Grey shirt tells purple backpack where he is from and gives her his background story, to which she nods her head and tries to get back to work. Each time grey shirt finishes talking, purple backpack desperately tries to act busy and get her homework done. She seems embarrassed by how loud and distracting he is. After about five minutes of grey shirt talking, purple backpack gets up to leave and tells him goodbye. Purple backpack must be very bothered by his presence, because she has never left the library before me.

Cheetos is back again today, but someone is sitting in his seat so he stands in the middle of the room as usual, debating where to sit now that his spot is taken. After about two minutes of contemplation, Cheetos decides to sit next to the girl who is in his spot, but leaves a table between them. The females outnumber the males in the library today, which is unusual. To my left, there is an Asian woman who is sitting at the table next to the Asian male and his friend, but they are not here together. To my right, there is a girl in a very low tank-top sitting in Cheetos’ usual spot, working on her laptop. There is another girl next to low tank-top with a Las Vegas bag who is just playing on her phone. Las Vegas’ headphones are in and her foot is tapping to the music. No one is looking around at other people today (excluding me) because it is once again a quiet day. After ten minutes, low tank-top leaves and Cheetos wastes no time to move over to the spot she was in. He all but throws his laptop and backpack over the table, as if the room is full of people, and hurriedly moves the rest of his things over.

It is quiet for twenty minutes or so, and when I look around at everyone here, the Asian woman to my left has fallen asleep on her books. The Asian male is still playing on his phone, laughing out loud to himself, and his friend is getting up to leave. Las Vegas is still on her phone, typing away, and Cheetos is working on his laptop. An older woman who looks lost has done two loops around the library, but there are only five of us left here besides her. A woman in a green shirt has come and sit down at the table next to mine. She gets out her laptop and begins to play music. Without her headphones in. Why in the world does everyone think that others want to hear their music either through headphones too loud or without using headphones? It’s rude, but for some odd reason people think that it’s okay to do it. In a world so focused on being politically correct, everyone has forgotten about basic manners. When I very obviously grabbed my headphones and put them in she gave me a glare, but I don’t mind. Sport shorts walks in, and I remember I haven’t seen him here for about a month. He has his headphones in and plays on his phone for a while. He then flips open the book he brought with him, finds the page he needs, and plays on his phone a little more. He is interesting to watch, because he flips the pages every once in a while, but is obviously not reading them because his finger is scrolling through his phone. He laughs to himself every so often, but is quiet and respectful.

Green shirt is then joined by a male with a large soda, and she screams (literally screams in a very high and annoying voice) profanities at him for some reason I am not aware of. Green shirt explains to soda that she has a huge paper due on Thursday and she is struggling to get it done. She warns him not to distract her, and they both begin looking on their computers. After a minute or so she leans over to him and asks him why New Mexico is poor, to which he responds “I don’t know,” and she gets back to work. They did not greet one another, she screamed profanities at him, and they sat as far away from one another as you possibly can being on the same side of the table. I can’t really tell what this relationship is all about, but it seems strange. She gives up on the paper after about 15 minutes, and is playing a game on her IPad now. They talk to one another about school and personal life issues that I can’t hear for about 20 minutes. I’ve been here for two hours now, and it is time for me to go. Everyone is starting to quiet down so that’s a good place to end.

Appreciation

               Do you ever pay close attention to how hard someone’s job is? We are always so quick to say “it’s your job you should know what you’re doing”. This is something we can all understand. But do you ever stop and think just how many tasks a person has at their job, and how many things they have to juggle on their plate, aside from having things outside their job to worry about. I believe that we should give them credit for everything they do on a day to day basis not just the scrubs that are assigned to you but to everyone who is there.

               For the last two weeks I have been able get a closer look at a job I always wanted to do. There are six patients assigned to every scrubs. Can you imagine that? Having six lives you have to care for. Not only that but they are all there for different reasons. They all have different meds, sicknesses and meds they are allergic to. You have to remember at what time they need to take a certain meds. You have to make sure they take all of their meds and help them with any assistance they may need. Not only that but you have family’s that try to get in the way.

                Like I mentioned I have observed these people for the last two weeks. They are constantly coming in and out of the room. There have so many papers to fill out and medication to give to just one person. Now imagine that times six. It’s not just one scrubs coming in its multiple people who are coming in. There’s the one that handles the meds, one who handles the papers, one that takes vitals, one that gives the lung medication, one that cleans the sheets and help’s the patient stand and so on. The main scrubs only have six patients but the rest have the entire floor to worry about. They are constantly going up and down the halls and like I said in and out of rooms. I stop and think when do they have time to breath?

               Even with a profession that is so important like this, and one thinks there shouldn’t be mistakes there is. One of these scrubs tried to give the person I was with shot that were blood thinners. The person I was with couldn’t have that because of other things that were wrong. After talking to the scrubs for a while we told them to ask the doc. Just to double check. After a while the scrubs apologizes and says we were right. If it hadn’t been for us asking what the shots were for the person I was with could have gotten worse instead of recovering.

               Some people were telling us to talk to that person’s manager and make a complaint. We thought to ourselves that we were lucky to have caught this before it happened. We also understand that they have a lot to deal with. At first we were upset, who wouldn’t be, but they are humans and they deserve some respect and appreciation for everything that they do. We also couldn’t act like insane human beans because at the end of the day they are the one who provide care for our patient and we want them to receive the best. Not take the anger out on the patient because the family made a scene. We understand with their profession there shouldn’t be mistakes but sometimes things happen. Mistakes can’t be avoided no matter how hard you try. With so many things on you plate we need to appreciate everything they are already doing for us.

           

Day5 A Morning

Its early this morning. Much earlier than I am usually up. As I enter the coffee shop the barista greets me with a welcoming face. Although it’s a welcoming face, the smile isn’t quite there with such a blank expression. The barista that is sitting at the bar stool section welcomes me by name and has a very pleasant smile as she jests at me while I struggle to wake up. As I get settled sitting outside with a friend of mine, I notice what I think is a couple splitting a sandwich and conversing back and forth. Their expressions are both pleasant to one another. One is a young man that must be about 25 but the beard that he has makes him look much older. The young woman that is with him, she had strawberry blond hair with a pail complexion and must be about 24 to 25 years old as well. The way the young man is sitting with his lady friend is very engaged. His body language says that he is very much into her. He has both elbows on the table and in a forward position where he can be closer to her as she talks. Along with fidgeting it seems as though he might be nervous. The young lady sits very relaxed. Whether she is or isn’t, I can’t quite tell. Its kind of hard not to stare at the young lady as she wears borderline scandalous clothing. I don’t think/feel like many people wear clothing of that nature. Off to the side are two much bigger individuals. Both male, one looks to be about 22 while the other looks to me closer to 26. The individual that looks to be 26 has a width slightly less than his height, a wild looking beard and tattoos on his neck. The individual that looks to be about 22 has glasses and seems very jolly. Every once in a while you come across and individual who always has a smile on their face that gives the impression of always being happy. This individual has a smile that gives me the impression of that. It sounds like they are friends by the tone of the conversation, and they way they are talking about what sounds like a move for the both of them. One of the individuals that just walked in brought a little rat dog “chihuahua” and left it outside while they take care of their business inside. This dog is driving me nuts as it just sits there and barks. I didn’t think such a little thing could be so annoying. The owner of the rat looks to be dressed very casual and comfortable. Almost like she just got up, but also as though she is prepared for summer. Her hair is pulled back into a pony tail with a tank top halter shirt that is white, flip flops, along with some sort of cotton shorts that are an off blue. It looks like she ordered some sort of Frappuccino. I cant say that I blame her, with a day that is already this warm in the morning, I’m sure it will shape up to be a nice day for a Frappuccino .