Reflections

Hello everyone. Well, this is it. This will be my last blog post since the class is ending. I have to say its been kind of fun putting my thoughts on here, and it was great getting to know all of you. For my final project I had made a video talking about myself and the people who influence me. In the video I talked about my family, my dog, and of course I talked about my relationship with God and how all of them have helped me get where I am today. In the video I showed a little purple dinosaur that represented me when I was younger because it was adorable, whimsical, playful, and because when I was younger I wanted to be a paleontologist (which I might still when I get old and retire from being a band director). the next thing I showed on the video was a bear that was holding a saxophone and played saxophone music when you pressed it's foot. This bear represented me now. It showed how I had grown up some, showed my love for the saxophone, and it was still a little childish. After this video I showed a video of some anime guy yelling at a bunch of other anime people with the Mulan song playing in the background to represent me as a band director, ha-ha. While the first video didn’t turn out so well wince it wouldn’t show up on the projector I’m guessing that you still get the point I was trying to make. I did not make the second video; I got it from my friend Evelyn. While sometimes my future seems a bit rocky I still know that God will lead me where I need to go. Have fun and see you all next semester!

Converse Traditions

Hello again everyone. This week's topic is traditions. Since it was 1889 week we were able to experience several Converse traditions. It was all good and fun, but I’m just looking forward to the Halloween party next week. I love Halloween because it’s an excuse to wear whatever I want and to eat as much chocolate as I can hold. I have a Halloween tradition of my own that I keep. Every year when it comes time to dress up, I make my own costume. I don’t go out and buy a box costume. I mean who wants to go a party just to find out that somebody has the same costume they do. Plus, have you priced costumes? They cost way too much. So, every Halloween I jar up whatever creativity I can muster and make the best costume I can. I have already made my costume for the party on Wednesday. I think this would be a cool tradition to start at Converse. My idea is that we should start a tradition that every year on Halloween we should make our own costumes and wear them the Halloween party. That way we can all show off our creativity and come up with our own costumes that express us! It doesn’t take a whole lot of work. If you’re proficient at sewing you can just but some things at Wal-Mart and put them together for your own unique design. You can also just take some old clothes that you don’t wear anymore and try to make something with those. Think of how much fun it would be to see what everyone came up with, instead of just seeing how much money they spent at party city. Now I’m not saying that it’s bad to go buy a costume, I’m just saying that it would be fun. You could learn a lot about a person based on what they created. Plus, as college students we’re all on a budget, and this is a great way to save some money. So that’s my idea for Converse’s next big tradition, see ya!

What I want to do when I grow up

Hello everyone. This weeks topic is about what I want to do with my life. As a new college student have have heard this question a lot. I've thought about it, studied about it, prayed about it, and I think i know what I want to do. I want to be a high school band director. Now I know this probably seems weird to a lot of you. Why on earth would anyone want to try and teach a bunch of moody teenagers about music? When I first started high school this isn't what I wanted to do. I was in marching band all throughout high school, but honestly I was just there to be with my friends, to build up social skills. That all changed when I went to BOA. BOA stands for bands of America. It's a national marching bands competition. All the best bands in the country compete there. My junior year my band got the oppurtunity to compete. We didn't do very well, but we all agreed it was still the best competition we had ever been to. I heard and saw things I had never dreamed of. One thing I'll never forget was how one of the AAAAA bands did a Wizard of Oz show. They sounded beautiful. At the end they all rode out of the stadium on matching red bicycles, while playing. I don't know how they did it, but ot was amazing. I decided I had to come back. I decided that one day I would become a band director and bring my band to compete, maybe even win. That's a dream of mine. Of course, I have my doubts, especially after my first week as a music major. Even if I don't end up as a band director, I still want to go. Well, that's enough sappy talk out of me. Good-bye.

My Speech to the Next Pink Panthers

Hello! As you all should well know, this week our topic is to write a speech that we'd like to give to our little sister class. I'm fairly certain that it will change between now and my junior, I still think that I have learned a lot since starting college.

Hello there littles. That’s so fun to say. My name is Allison and I'm a music education major. If you're coming in here anything like I did college has been a huge shock so far. It's a lot more work than you thought isn't it? I remember feeling completely overwhelmed my first big week of assignments, but you'll get through it. Also, the professors are a lot nicer than high school teachers said they would be. Since you're in a small college you'll get to know your professors pretty well and be a lot closer to them than you would elsewhere. The downside is that you have to actually be involved with your classes. Isn't that just terrible? Seriously though, it's a lot more fun than it seems right now. You'll get chances to do just about anything you want here. Just don't forget your reason for coming here in the first place. When you get frustrated just take some time to cool down and try again. I promise that all those assignments looming over your head aren’t nearly as difficult as you think. All you have to do is get settled into a routine and relax. As you get settled in you’ll learn what you professors expect of you and you’ll be better at handling your workload. The biggest thing is make sure that you do take some personal time, no matter what. If you neglect to take personal time and just work, work, work, you’ll go nuts. Trust me, I tried that for the first couple of weeks and it wasn’t pretty. Lastly, have fun! College is supposed to be a great time in your life. So go to some sports games, stay up late eating pizza and watching movies with your friends, and just be a college girl. You had to work hard to get here and you deserve to enjoy the benefits. Well, I guess that’s all I have to say. Good-bye!

Time Management

Hello there. This week's topic is, obviously, time management! Clearly this is something most, if not all new college students struggle with. Personally, my biggest time management problem is juggling the things I want to do with the things I need to do. This is been a big struggle for me because I was one of those students who never had to study through high school so I always had plenty of extra time. Now I am having to work harder because there is more work to be done there was in high school and the work requires more effort. More effort means more time. More time with schoolwork means less time for fun stuff. I've found that it is much easier for me to get a lot of work done with these tips. If you have a short break between classes try to get a few problems done. The more you do this the less you have to do when classes are over. If you have a long break between classes go find a place with few distractions (like friends who want you to go to Starbucks) and sit and work on your homework for a while. When you're working on your homework for a long time, stop about every half-hour and take a 10 minute break. If you have a lot of homework you can lengthen the time between breaks of shorten it if you only have a little. During these breaks you can reward yourself by getting a snack, talking to your friends, or looking up cute cat videos on youtube. Beware though, don't get caught up in your break, make sure that within 10 minutes you go back to work. After you've been working for a while, if you still havn't finished everything lessen the frequency of your breaks, it'll be incentive to get done. And lastly, don't allow yourself to procrastinate. I know you've heard this over and over but procrastinating can really hurt you. I'm not saying that you couldn't get it all done, but do you really want to be stuck in your room late on a Friday night finishing up that paper that's due at 10:00? Just tackle it a little at a time and it'll be done, eventually. See you next time.

First Post

In response to the questions on Dr. Vaneman's blog, I decided to go to college because I want to become a successful person. I think that going to college will help me become smarter so that I can be a better citizen. I chose Converse because it was close to home and the idea that I can start a new part of my life while still having something familiar comforts me. Converse has a wonderful music program and that helped my decision since I intend to be a music major. Plus, huge factor in my decision to come to Converse was the fact that if I went to a school close to home I wouldn't have to get rid of my dog. I chose music because I have always loved being a part of the music programs in my schools and church. Music has just always been important to me, I grew up with it and it has helped me meet some amazing people. Being a musician for a living is one of the only jobs where you can get paid to entertain, teach, or help others by just doing what you love. I chose music because I know without it, my life would be totally different, and definitely much less exciting. To make a point, try and go one day without any music what so ever, that would mean, no ipod, no video games, no t.v., no radio, no humming, not even tapping would be allowed. Sounds like a pretty bleak world, doesn't it? Music is something that can affect your emotions like nothing else, and I chose music because I want to be a part of that. Now, for the important question; if I were a muppet I like to think that I'd be like Fozzie, happy, laid back, and adorable. ^_^