Month: July 2017

4 TV Shows I Like

4 TV Shows I Like

In terms of TV shows, there’s a couple of shows I’m addicted to watching. I’ll share them with you and give a little comment here and there. This way, you will also get the chance to get to know me better and know what I kind of person I am.

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DOCTOR WHO

I love sci-fi. I love it when the Doctor travels all over the world in the future, present, and past. There are so many episodes that are well-done, from the sets, to the actors,  and plot line. In each episode, there are always levels of suspense that keeps my eyes glued to the screen. The Doctor’s character is something I admire a lot (A LOT). Although he is an alien, he has a lot of care, compassion, and is adventurous. When he brings companions with him, there is a definitely connection between the two. I know that I can speak for many people when I say I want to be his companion too!

THE OFFICE

If you are looking for a show that makes you smile, laugh, cry (laughing so hard), and feel better, this is definitely the show for you. I love all the characters of the show; they are all so different, dynamic, and…..weird! I consider myself to be a tad-immature, and this show is simply IMMATURE and hilarious at the same time. If you are like me and have a busy life, this show lets you relax and enjoy in a less-serious fashion. It’s quite relieving!

DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN

This is a Korean Drama. Although I do not speak Korean nor speak proficient Korean, there are English subtitles. This show is half romantic half action. It is a LOT of stuff in each episode, from settings to content (even to deaths!). After one episode, you get exhausted easily because so much has happened! Still, I love virtually traveling with these characters and see what they are going through.

MY SHY BOSS

Another Korean Drama…This one is quite entertaining because the main character, the boss, is shy and does not have enough confidence to lead his company well. His workers have to help him a lot of times, especially when he needs to be social (conference meetings, proposals, conventions, etc). He struggles a lot and he ends up causing more problems. I relate well to him because I’m shy too and can sometimes understand what he’s going through.

GREY’S ANATOMY

If you want to be in healthcare and love drama (hardcore drama), you’ll like this show. Most of you know it already, but for those who do not know what Grey’s Anatomy is about, it’s about a few doctors and their personal adventures in the hospital and at home. Each patient that comes in has a unique and emotional story and in that episode, you get to understand that patient more and walk with the doctor to see how he/she will handle things.

These TV shows, I watched one at a time. I tend to watch only 1 or 2 episodes a day to make sure I still have time in the day to do things I need to do and to prolong the show. I consider these shows to be like a little reward for getting something done; this way, I feel good about watching them.  

Let’s Be Honest…

Let’s Be Honest…

Let’s be honest…being a LUC student is more than fortunate. I sometimes do not realize it and sometimes I see others not realizing it either. Loyola University has built up and put together a wonderful institution with countless resources, from student healthcare, free tutoring, technology rentals, wonderful facilities, and events for students to enjoy. Obviously, there’s a lot of benefits we get from LUC. Personally I know I sometimes complain about this and that, but in a grander scheme, I’m just really fortunate to simply attend this school rather than other schools.

[This isn’t meant to be egotistical]. 

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If we look at the most important factor of picking colleges to attend, money is the biggest thing to consider first. Let’s be honest, Loyola is not an inexpensive school. I do not know how to accurately compare the average community college to this private, Jesuit-oriented institution, but this shows you a snippet of why I am too fortunate to be here. Nevertheless, this does not mean I am wealthy. More than half of my tuition is covered by scholarships, grants, and loans, which make it affordable. My advice to you, if you want to save money to attend here: (1) do well in your classes, academically (2) commute if possible (3)  bring your own lunch (4) join clubs (5) actively look for external donors or scholarships (6) spend your money wisely and prioritize. If Loyola offers all these events, access to facilities and resources, GO USE THEM! You can only benefit from them and get your rightful money’s worth!

Being a Loyola student brings me pride because of the [general] reputation it has of its high standards, academic rigor, good work with being environmentally sustainable, well-known people who have also attended this school, and more. Sometimes, new people may be impressed as well!

Let’s be honest, graduating with a Loyola diploma will somehow get me far. Coming from a refugee family and being a first generation student, I know I will go farther than my family has gone. With my success (if you can really call it that), I can repay them for their support and be able to completely take care of myself financially. I know it may be hard to see that far into the future, but let’s be honest, a Loyola education will get you a step further to what you want, never a step back.

Personal Ideology

Personal Ideology

If you have read my previous posts before, you might have some sort of idea of what my ideologies on school and life are like. In general, I tend to see things in a positive light as well as talk things through thoroughly and openly- I don’t hide anything. My concept of doing things and thinking help me get through tough times and all in all, things have been good and sometimes successful. I’d like to share my ideologies so maybe even you can consider them too!

Stitch is my favorite Disney character, hence the opening GIF….

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School

I take academics seriously and most of the time, people see that I dedicate more time and effort to this than the average college student would. As a commuter, eldest sibling, student from a first-generation, low-income, and minority family, a college education was difficult to start with for me. I did not have much support nor did I know what to do and where to turn to. Understandably, I learned things through trial-and-error; experience. Since I had a science major and had intentions of going to medical school, good (excellent) grades were required and I needed to work hard to earn acceptable grades, especially in the hard-sciences courses. It is also quite important to have some academic ethic. This means you can show up early to class and find a good seat to focus, ask questions when you do not understand something, reading all (yes, all) things assigned, stay organized and know when exams and quizzes are administered, and more. The syllabus is more valuable than most people think. It helps you see what the teacher will do each week, what chapters will be covered, and sometimes the teacher might even put hints or actual questions that will be on the final exams too (I’ve had that happen many times).

Leisure

If I am free, it is nice to meet up with friends just to talk, eat together, or help them with whatever they need. Sometimes, it’s fun to hang out downtown eat at restaurants and sight-see like tourists. I like to keep my leisure to moderation because I am not that extroverted nor willing to spend a tremendous amount of money in one night. Often, I just use free time to catch up on sleep. For a student such as myself, we do not get much sleep at all. On average, I do not even get close to the minimum hours of sleep recommended ( ~7-9 hours), so I tell myself to “Love yourself” a lot and end up napping whenever I can. I wake up feeling better and more energized.

People 

I am a generally optimistic and open person to others. Although I am a bit introverted, I still try my best to meet new people and become acquainted. I do not like drama nor do I enjoy hating people to any extent. But in some cases, if I see that people bring me down with any form of negativity, I simply remove those people from my conscience and do my best to move on. I recently saw this talk Oprah gave about this and would love to share with you all:

Faith 

I understand people come from so many faiths, traditions, backgrounds, and cultures. I appreciate how diverse and colorful our world is. I believe in faith and it helps me stay genuine to others. Faith gives you a sense of hope and a sense of purpose. It helps you regulate your life in a more peaceful and interactive way with everyone around you. If these means that faith is religion, that is good too! Religions can help you very much because there are things already put in place for you to follow and believe in. For me, I am Roman Catholic and do hold on strongly to my religious faith. I also affiliate with my church very much by being a part of many groups such as the VEYM youth group, SBC, as well as being a musician for the choir. Seraphim. In these groups, I have found many people I can look up too, help out, and more. I find a lot of my own purpose within the church and am very proud of the work I have done so far.

Physical Fitness 

I am very sure 97%  of you readers have not seen what I look like physically (in-person). I think I am a couch potato. When I can (this sort of falls under “Leisure”), I jog in the park nearby my house. Yea…that’s all the physical fitness I do. I hope I have more time open (and more motivation) to exercise more but I hope I can continue being active so that when I get older, I can still be mobile and healthy.

 

 

 

Halfway Done with Summer

Halfway Done with Summer

[Pug for attention]

It feels as if finals were only yesterday….and I deserve 3 months of summer starting now. Time goes by too fast and we are already in the month of July. Next month, it is still surprising to me that I go back to school now as a senior. But for now, my summer has been semi-productive. It’s been nice to take a little break from school–I’ve been doing stuff around the house, helping out with youth groups and their events, and playing music for my church. I’ve also decided to go back to music school too and now, (starting this week), I began summer class to complete my pre-health class requirements.

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Along with the summer season comes the wedding season. As a musician in my choir, I have played for a couple of weddings at my church so far and have enjoyed making the mass more beautiful and elegant by my music. Even just yesterday after my summer class, I biked to church to play for a 3pm wedding. I love doing things like this because I believe that music is “food for the soul.” Whenever people are down or people need to relax, it is safe to say all people find some sort of comfort through music. It is powerful because this means that music is a universal language that anyone can understand and find enjoyment in. My talent to play the piano and accompany singers or play the cello is something I take pride in. It has been hard to credit myself in anything I do, but through other people’s advice, I think it is good to acknowledge my talent and what I have to offer. Besides weddings, I play weekly for Saturday masses too and for funerals and whatnot.

In addition, my youth group had their annual 3 day camp at Camp Palos and I help prepare for it. More importantly, I was in charge of designing a faith-based “journey” (literal translation in English) that normally happens at nighttime. Here, kids get into their teams and travel into the woods to figure out clues and correctly go to each station to figure something out. The clues include deciphering Morse (written/listen),  semaphore (written/visual), pigpens, knot knots, and other stuff like reading the alphabet backwards. These kids were taught all of these things throughout the school year, so they were able to do these things during the “journey.” It was quite fun traveling in the forest trails in the dark and hearing them scream (muah hahaha).

Last week, our youth group prepared a dance for a fellow priest’s 50th year of ordination. We did an awesome job during the reception and you can find the video of our dance here:

This week, my church will be doing their annual summerfest and they have invited 4 famous singers to come out to help celebrate. My youth group will be doing a booth in which we will sell thai tea, coffee, ice cream, and a bunch of other foods that I really do not know how to translate in English haha.

More and more things to come in the future before I go back to school, but I hope this blog help put in perspective of how my summer (half of it) has been so far.