Money-Wise

I think, money-wise, I am pretty cautious. It helps when you have the actual money in cash because it's a physical representation of what your giving in exchange for the luxuries and necessaties in life. There was a very brief period where I put my debit card on Amazon, and I would be a little careless with it. When I saw how much I was spending versus what I was depositing, I removed my card number from my account. Now, my debit card stays in a chest in my room that I don't take out. If I need money, I'll make a withdrawal, but I think it helps when you can literally see the consequences of your money when it's physically there. I avoid credit like the plague, though over the last couple years, when I got my first credit card, my parents helped me out by buying groceries with it and paying it off early to help build up my credit. But overall, I never use my credit card unless my parents ask me to.

Addictions

Well, I know for a fact that I am usually addicted to the Internet. It's hard to explain, because once you've seen everything you need (or want) to, you just have to keep going back thinking there's more. And there usually is, but that's not the point. The first thing I do in the morning is get on my computer, and it's the last thing I do before I go to bed. Addictions are hard to explain because you honestly don't think you have a problem. You don't think it's necessarily good for you, but not bad or harmful for anyone else.

Once, about a year and a half ago, our Internet went out. We got it back on, but it only worked on our main computer, and I was only allowed on the main computer for school reasons. Those first weeks, I would obsess over how to sneak on the Internet, such as setting my alarm clock for 3 am, and wait until my parents would leave before rushing to the computer. After a while, I didn't care as much. It stayed that way for about 6 months, and we got someone to fix the internet for us. So, now I'm doing it all over again. -sigh-

So much for all that time away from it.

Prejudice

My dad is actually more prejudice than I am. My dad is mostly racist against blacks. Most of the racism could be blamed on the way he was raised which involved a lot of prejudice against blacks, but not all of it. I had a black friend (several actually) in elementary school, but one was my neighbor and we were in the same class. My dad would curse at him if he ever saw me near him, so we never really stayed in touch. My dad's a little better now, but I still remember it. I always promise myself to do my best to keep an open mind and heart and never judge people based on what I see. It's important because most of my first impressions always prove me dead wrong and I end up really enjoying the company of those I take caution against.

Learning From Other Writers

I just read a biography of Johnny Depp not too long ago. It gave a detailed summary of how Depp came into the movie busniess and his life before it. It was very touching because I found out he self-mutilated himself because of depression caused by family troubles and insecurity. I connected with that personally because I also used to suffer very much from the same thing, and my sister even more so. It made me sympathize with that story, because most people wouldn't understand why someone harms themselves. You'd have to be in their shoes to understand completely that the heart is not as logical as the mind.

Anyway, it went on to describe how he was extremely independent with the roles he wanted to take, which I find inspirational. He wouldn't accept a role or title that was forced on him, no matter the money involved (at the time he wasn't in a great business of film-making, so...) which should be a lesson for us all, that money is not worth sacrificing our morals and ideas for.

I thought the story was inspirational and touching, and I can learn and relate from this story and the writing.

Test Anxiety

I usually feel test anxiety before a test starts instead of during (though I'll feel test anxiety if I haven't really studied or anything). The only real reason I get anxiety over tests is if I know I haven't studied enough for one. So I make sure to prepare and look over everything I need to before a test. I'll practice asking/answering mock test questions with someone if I feel I need to, but for the most part, I'm pretty okay about test anxiety. As long as I study.

How People Retain Information

We retain:
     10% of what we read
     20% of what we hear
     30% of what we see
     50% of what we hear and see
     70% of what we say
     90% of what we say and do

Well, this gives a very demonstrative way of retaining information, and I feel this can help me learn how to retain information better by switching around how I study. I usually help myself remember things by saying aloud the information in a way I can understand, or sometimes even drawing pictures to help me remember certain things, and apparently the "saying" part has helped me. The "doing" part is something I never would have thought of. I guess this means to actively participate in the classroom or physically do something to help out with studies. I think this proves that lectures in history class are much better than reading the text book!

Reading Challenges

The courses in which I find reading very difficult is in my pyschology class. The reason I find them difficult is because of actually reading them for a test rather than reading them for pleasure at my on leisure. Usually when I have to read an assignment, it makes me very unwilling to read it. Not necessarily because of the difficulty, but more because it's for school. However, I shall improve by actively reading my assignments instead of passively, as I am used to. I can try to put away all distractions that might take away the focus of my assignment, and write notes about what it is I am studying to improve the way I read for a class.