Blog 11

On the day of the CATW 

I will wake up at 7am for my Vocabulary Enhancement class at 9:15

I will have breakfast and then go to my next class at 11:45.

Then I will come the CATW room

while taking the test I will make sure that I look for the main ideas very carefully because In the past I have not stated all of them because I have read the passages too quickly and often missed a few. I will take my time and make sure to state the articles name and the authors name because on my last CATW practice I remember I forgot to do that, and that's a simple mistake that will cost a lot of points can be the passing point from a 56 or a 70,  I will give as much details as possible when writing the examples down and remember to only use one personal example. I believe that my weakness is the fact that I get very impatient when it comes to these kind of test because I feel like I need to let my mind wander for a least a few minutes but if I do so then I feel like I will lose the train of thought that I had before I wrote it down and then I would have to think of something again. And I often to let my mind wonder off and then when I come back to like reality I get a little desperate because I see people walking out the room and giving their test in and I want to do the same but I also want to pass the test, I will take my time and stop my mind from wondering because when I do finish the test and I start think I get a little pissed because I say "damn, I forgot to add this to this sentence or I forgot to add that to this" and I feel like I could of done such a better job if I would of just taken my time and really looked over what I wrote then I would of remembered to add this and that. I also never re-read what I write so sometimes I make silly mistakes, like misspelling a word and that could take unnecessary points off, next Thursday when I'm taking the CATW I will make sure to re-read what I wrote and look for any mistakes that I could have possibly made.

Blog 10.

Most of the time having its the best, when you have sibling you care for them so much as if they are the only people in the world that mattered. Siblings are thought and talked about because they have a special place in the family. The other family members have different attitudes towards each child because of the order they were born in. In the article"How your birth order influences your life adjustment by Lucielle Forer" It states "the other members of the family assume certain attitudes towards each child in terms of his birth order," I agree with that statement.

Being the middle child is not easy because you have someone who is older than you and someone who is younger than you. You cant screw anything because  then your parents and older sibling will think that you are teaching the little one something bad. When you are the  younger child you can do almost anything and not get in trouble with your parents. They baby you because you are a baby in their eyes, but if you're the middle or older child and you do something bad they will easily scold you very harshly.

Katherine is the older out of all her little brothers, shes always caring for them, and tries to keep them on a good track. On a Saturday they went to visit their family out in Virginia. Katherine's little brothers started acting out, they were play fighting and hitting their cousins, Katherine immediately told them to stop but they ignored her, their family members commented and whispered and sad to Katherine that she has no control over the kids. Katherine got mad and left because just because shes the oldest they expect her to always control her brothers.

Having sibling can be very fun but at the same time it can also be a challenge that is very hard, younger siblings always want your help and can be very bratty, while the older ones can be mean sometimes and act like they know it all.

Blog 9: Hero

Growing up there was a lot of heroes and super heroes around, like Batman, Superman and many more. But in reality is there a Superman that is going to save us? I think so. Even though they might not have super powers that can make them fly, have super strength, or anything like that. There are people in our everyday lives that can help us with our everyday things and can still be called a hero. When people say the word hero, what automatically comes to mind would someone from a comic book or the television, but the difference between the television/movies and real life is that in real life you won’t see monsters attacking the city or villains hurting the civilians, you would mostly always see a calm city basically boring compare to the ones in the movies. What makes up a hero is not someone who comes from outer space with super powers, is the people everyday policemen or firefighters that risk their lives to help us have a safer neighborhood. A hero can also be your mother or father, those are human beings that have helped you and have watched over you since you were born, and they keep away from harm while giving you a warm loving home.

Being a hero is not just about fitting the hero’s character, being a hero is about doing heroic acts that are selfless and that will not always get you rewarded physically but mentally and in your heart you know you did a good thing so you are pleased with that. In example there are many policemen that I’ve seen that are not the nicest person I’ve known but they get their job done right. They would risk their lives to capture a criminal or risk their lives to save a civilian in need; I believe that is the true definition of a hero.

It doesn’t always have be someone who is a policemen or a firefighter it can also be close family, because close family or your parents will always care for you and keep you safe from any harm they have caring, selfless and loving traits that many heroes that we see in the movies have. Our parents would never let us go anywhere that they don’t think would be safe for or anywhere that we would be placed in any harm; I believe that most of the parents are heroes because they would protect their children with their lives and not care much about what happens to them, and if you see all the hero movies and all the characters that children look up they do the same thing for the civilians.

The definition of hero isn’t someone who has superpowers and can fly around saving the world from giant monsters, a hero is somebody who you can count on to be there whenever you need help, someone who will lend you a hand and keep out of any trouble, and In this day and age we have a lot of people that we can classify as heroes.

Blog 8: Revise CATW Practice 1

Growing up there was a lot of music around me. My family enjoy to play the radio very loud and dance/sing along to the songs that played. Now as a young adult I listen to music everyday, music plays a very important part in my life and I don't think that I can go a day without listening to music. Listening to your favorite song can help you lower your stress tremendously while working, help your work performance while keeping a smile on your face. Research shows that music can help cure many illnesses like depression. In the article "Is music a good tool for health by Elizabeth Scott" it states that many hospitals are using music to treat people with pain and help patients to calm down. I agree with the statement "music has a profound effect on your body and mind" because music has helped me coped with many daily stresses that I may encounter.

An example of this is when my boyfriend and I had a argument and ended up breaking up, I was devastated. I didn't know what to do or how to deal with the pain that I was having, but when I started to listen to music everything seemed to be better and I wasn't in any pain anymore. Another example is when when I watched a movie called lemonade mouth, a group of students that barely knew each other came together to form a group and every time they preformed a song a crowd that seem lifeless and dead, suddenly changed, they got up to dance sing along and the atmosphere at that place changed, everything was very hyped. One last example is an episode of supernatural that I watched on Netflix were Sam and Dean were arguing about something silly, they ended up being mad at each other and the car ride was tensed and awkward until Dean turned on the radio and started singing along to "You shook me all night long by AC/DC", then Sam joined in and the awkwardness was instantly gone and they weren't mad at each other anymore.

When I was about 12 years old my mom got a call saying that my grandmother had passed away, I was in shock, I felt responsible because my mom had asked me several times to go downstairs and buy her a phone card so she could call and check to see how my grandmother was doing, but I kept procrastinating and I didn't do it. After my mom got the call she broke down crying and I did the same, she blamed me saying I should of gotten her the phone call when she had asked me too, that made me feel so much worse. As the time when on I didn't get better, I was very depressed, I went from a A- average in school to a C because I didn't want to do my work and I didn't care about anything. My mom was mourning so she didn't turn on the radio or listened to any type of music whatsoever for the about a whole year, I tried to do the same. One day though I was sleeping over my best friend's house and she had the radio turned on. This one song came on that I knew and before long I was singing and dancing to it, I didn't noticed it till after 15 minutes of singing and dancing but I had felt so much better. My depression had gone away for that bit of the time that I was enjoying myself, since that day on I listen to music everyday because my mood just goes up by like 101%.

Music can be a very powerful thing, it can change the mood your in. You can go from being sad to being happy, from being mad to being calm. Music is even used in hospitals to treat many illnesses and I believe that it help us heal physically and emotionally by making our mind sharper and making us more alert to our surroundings.

Blog 7: CATW Practice 2

 When you are hanging out with your friends, you tend to behave differently then when you are alone. In the article "In groups we shrink by Carol Tavris", she states that when a person is in a group their mindset and actions are different than how the are when they are by themselves, she also states that this has more to do with the way the group was brought up, more than the way the in the individuals were. This is called "Diffusion of responsibility" meaning that the bigger the groups are the lazier each person in the group is. The people often think that they don't need to do anything because someone else is already doing it. I agree with the statement that the writer says "when they are in a group they think and act differently than they would on their own. Some examples of this would be, when I'm with my friends I tend to get out of my shell and I'm more open and willing to talk to everyone, another one is an episode of gossip girl that I watched on Netflix one of the girls was in a clique and while she was in that clique she was very mean and snobbish and when she got kicked out of her clique she became very quiet and conservative, one last example of this is once on the news i watched two sisters get beat up by a girl and her group of friends because they used to tease one of the girl in the group and when the girls friends came she acted out and became a totally different person.

 When I'm hanging out with my best friends I always feel very comfortable, I always talk to everyone and i'm very open, we are always the loudest ones on the block because we are very hyper. One day my best friends decided to stay home from school and I was all alone, my whole personality changed. I was very quiet that day, I didn't talk to anyone, I kept to myself a lot. But the next day when my best friends came back I was back to my old self, because when Im in a group I feel more comfortable being myself.

 In the news recently in channel 1, I watched a video of two sisters that teased this girl, she ever said anything back until she got fed up with it and brought a group of her friends after school to confront the girls. It was as if the girl was a totally different person she talked a lot and insulted the two sisters a lot, then the girls friends started hitting the two sisters and the girl also joined it. A girl that looked like she was of such a gentle nature  changed so much once her friends were around.

 When people are place in a group of people or friends they changed completely, they act out of their nature because they are so comfortable with the people around them. 

Blog 6: Type CATW practice 1

Music is good for your body and your mind. Listening to your favorite song can relax  you and distress you. Music is used in hospitals to treat many patients with depression, how to manage pain calm the patients and many more benefits. In the article "Is music a good tool for health by Elizabeth Scott" It states that "Music has a profound effect on your body and mind." I agree wit this statement because if I ever feel stress or mad I go and listen to same calm music and I feel better almost instantly.
My best friend Marta was suffering from depression because both of her parents had passed away in a car accident. Marta was taking several pills per day to reduce her depression but they didn't seem to e working. One day while I was checking my e-mail I saw this pop up that said that music therapy has successfully helped a lot of people with their depression. I suggested to Marta that she should go and after just a few sections Marta seemed to be back to her old self before the accident.
My boyfriend I had an argument and ended up breaking up. I was feeling really sad afterwards, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to take my mind off the break up but I couldn't.I tried watching tv but all I kept thinking about was my boyfriend and the break up, then I started to listening to my iPod and slowly started to feel better and forget just for a second about the break up. Now every-time I feel mad or sad, I listen to music and I feel better right away.
It is said that music can help heal us physically and emotionally. Music theraphy is used on children with attention problems, cancer patients and many more. Music can make your mind sharper or relax you, I think music can really help people.

Blog 5:“Historical and Personal Illusions.”

I used to live in a cave, my cave was my country in Caribbean  called Dominican Republic.
Before I moved to NYC at the age of 7, I used to believe that New York was the best state ever. I thought that in New York the streets were made of gold, and everyone here was rich, there was a lot of food and everything was free in my head, no one ever had to pay for anything or do anymore work. In my country there was a lot of poor people and  a lot of people starving for food. I guess everyone in New York never starved for food and always had money with them. My family that lives in the Dominican Republic always kept telling "Oh when you move the New York you wont have to do anymore work, you wont ever be hungry, you can always eat whatever you want and your going to grow up to be so big." Since they kept saying that to me I believed it. Once the plane landed and I saw what New York was really like I was in shock, I never thought that something that I thought was so magical,in the end it was completely opposite to what I had in my head.
I believe that if you do your work ahead of time you will do best.
I used to believe that my parents would never age and that they won't ever ever die and I would stay little forever.
I believe in karma, that if you do something bad now later on you'll end up paying for it.
I believe that hard work get you the best.
I used to believe that if I wished for something to happen really badly, it would.
I used to believe that adults never lied to kids.
I used to believe that kids actually came in a stork.
Many people believe that if you are always nice to someone that they will be nice back or that if you respect your elders they will respect you back. I don't believe in that because not everyone in the world is nice, even if you are nice to them they will still be mean to you and even if u respect them they will disrespect you in many ways. For example I always respected the elders and I never said anything rude to them, but one day I was in the bus with my friends and it was really crowded. I had to stay in the front when this old lady came on the bus, I was kind of annoyed because she kept leaning on me, so I kindly asked her to please scoot over because her jacket was itching me(It literally was) and she didn't move. She just ignored me, so I end up asking her again because at the same time she was heavy and was starting to hurt me, so I kindly ask her again can she move over or let me move over, so when it was my time to get of the bus I pushed her out my way and said a lot of not so kind of words to her because she kept ignoring me, she said a lot of   inappropriate words to me. This is an example of how even though you respect your elders and you try to be nice to them they end up disrespecting you and being not so nice back.