Key to Success

(I thought this picture was clever, considering the title (:)

In the spirit of my last post and with my general excitement in picking classes, thinking about careers, and dreaming about my future, today I'm talking about reading personalities and profitable skills. Sounds boring, yes, but it isn't trust me. I was talking to one of my friends yesterday and we started talking about how you don't have to be a genius to get a ton of money in this world, you just need certain skills. If you are sociable and able to make connections with people, get a big client base or network yourself correctly, you'll go far. It's a little unfair that it works out that way, but that's the way it is unless you're a Bill Gates genius who can revolutionize the world with a new product/technology. Since I have not thought of an ingenious invention yet (my brain is searching for ideas daily though don't you worry), it looks like I need to work on my people skills. Starting off as a shy, awkward girl who slumped down at the restaurant table when a group of waiters sang happy birthday to me attracting the eyes of the entire restaurant and drawing much too much attention (honestly family did you really have to put me through that torture??), I was slightly disadvantaged but have no fear, I'm making strides! Once I realized people aren't judging me and that I should just be comfortable with me and do my thing, it all went down hill from there. Ellen Degeneres talks about this in one of her stand-up skits (which you should DEFINITELY watch because it is absolutely hilarious! Ellen Degeneres: Here and Now, check it out on YouTube) where she says that people are so busy worrying about what everyone else is thinking that they have no time to think about and judge others. Totally true.

Other skills that are important to have are financial skills. These are the most under-taught skills! I got a financial aid packet that I had to fill out the other day and I took one look at it and couldn't decipher any of the acronyms or big words that stand for various forms and other things. Are we supposed to just know these things? Thank goodness we have dads to just hand these things over to and get them back magically filled out. And I haven't even begun to think about paying taxes, starting a 401k, choosing a mortgage, paying bills...mind boggling. That's how people get into trouble financially. They don't understand these things well enough and buy things on credit thinking everything will just work itself out and make risky decisions and just ruin themselves. If you master the system though and know how it works, you can be well off without too much work. And that's why I'm going into Finance! Well, not completely, but heck money doesn't hurt now does it?

Personality

Personalities have really interested me lately. Being a typical college student who is trying to find her way in life, solidify her interests, and choose what she wants to do with her life (why do we have to make so many decisions while we're so young??), I love hearing about personality tests that will help me find my way and make decisions for me. Maybe not the best way to go, but hey why not? For my Business Ethics class, our professor had us all take a personality test on the first day of class and I loved it. It was based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) found here. It gives everyone an acronym that stands for their personality type, I am a ISTJ personality, and you can type those letters into Google and it will give you a long description about your personality and it is DEAD on. I found out so much about myself just by seeing my personality laid out in front of me and it was awesome. The test also tells you what things your personality type needs to improve upon and what you're good at and should exploit. What is probably the coolest thing about the test, especially for someone my age and why my professor had us take it, is that it tells you what career paths you will be most happy in. My professor is a big shot business guy who has a million jobs one of which is leading people to their ideal jobs. The first thing he always does is have them take a personality test because some people are just not meant to be in certain jobs even if their skills say otherwise. The test is just really beneficial and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about themselves.

If people are comfortable with themselves and know who they are and like where they are, they can truly feel self-fulfillment. This is one of the lessons my professor taught me and I've really taken it to heart. I've always been good at math, but I don't think doing math all day would be a good environment for me even if I could make a lot of money doing it. Money is definitely important, but not the most important thing and what you want to do is find a balance between a good salary and happiness in your work. It is very rare that you will wake up in the morning and say "Yea, I get to go to work today!" (as my dad always reminds me), but you should not be miserable and so it is important to find a place where you belong. Finding out more about your personality just may be the key to that.

P.S. I believe you have to pay for the other test that I linked to, so here's another one that I haven't tried personally but that also uses the Myers-Briggs model and might be helpful. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Eat Meat

I have never understood the vegan movement. Vegetarians already confused me, but vegans absolutely amaze me. You can't eat ANYTHING. And what is so bad about eating meat? Is that not what people have done for millennia and how the natural food chain goes? I understand that we don't keep our livestock in entirely humane conditions, but could you not eat free-range meat or hormone-free products? What's kind of funny about the whole thing is vegetarians will not eat meat with a nine-foot pole, but they're all over the mac and cheese made from cows forcefully milked in a crammed barn. Now that doesn't seem to make sense! I figure if you're going to take a stand you might as well take a stand.

That's where vegans come in. These people are dedicated. One of my teammates in high school is a vegan and she literally eats nothing even related to animals. No Kraft mac and cheese, no chocolate chip cookies, no Cheetos, no Teddy Grahams, no anything! What a terrible terrible life. A vegan's rationale at least makes more sense to me because they are completely against the inhumane treatment of animals and don't eat meat because of it. But then, while I was watching Ellen the other day, she mentioned she was a vegan which is something I did not know about her. She was talking to a guest who was also a vegan and they were saying how much they loved it and Ellen said "yeah it's just great and so environmentally conscious.." Hold up, what? Environmentally conscious, really? Combining all the odd ingredients and artificial things in a big factory with crazy equipment is a whole lot more complicated and polluting than simply killing a chicken for meat (reminds me a little of the recycling craze where it takes more energy to create recycled goods than normal ones).

Being a vegetarian or a vegan has definitely less to do with the animals and the rationale that vegetarians/vegans use to defend their lifestyle, and more to do with attention and "taking a social stand." All of that said, I don't hate people who are vegetarians, a few of my cousins and my friend I mentioned earlier are vegetarians, I just don't fully agree with their logic. I think we should be less wasteful and cruel to animals as well as the environment, but there is no need to take such a stand and think you are doing the world a service. After all, aren't plants "living things" as well? What a cruel, cruel thing to kill so many.

Grammer stinks whomever you are

That video is not only a classic Office moment, but it also touches on my all-time least favorite subject in school, grammar. It is such a confusing, BORING subject that I suppose is necessary, but I I would rather just learn through experience than have to gruel through grammar rules in school. In fact, I used to not even know how to spell the word and would always put "grammer" and my teachers would always correct it and chuckle to themselves over the irony I'm sure. Going back to the video, I have NEVER been able to tell when to use who vs. whom. It's impossible to tell I think and I agree with Creed that whom is a made up word to trick students.

Even in SPANISH I had trouble with grammar! Preterite and imperfect? Yeah, never understood it. I just guessed every time and got about a 60% on the quiz which I thought was pretty good considering the odds. My only B in all of high school was in Spanish IV a result of not being able to understand, you guessed it, grammar. Obnoxious. Who needs two forms of the past tense anyways? Where was I on Saturday? I WAS in California. I use "was" whether I was there for a week or permanently there, there is no change in verbs. That's how it should be.

I talk all this trash about grammar but if someone uses a word incorrectly or picks the improper form do I correct them? You bettcha. More of a habit and a tease I'd say, but still something that I often do. Call me a hypocrite or what you may, but it's kind of fun you should try it some time. Even if you're not right people will usually just go with it. No one likes grammar.

P.S. Thanks Kayle for passing along the video. By the way, whilst is a great word no matter what you say!

Politics

I have never been too wrapped up in politics, they've always seemed too complicated and bored me a little bit, but now I feel like I should be more educated in what's going on in our country and where I stand on certain issues. I don't like to label myself as a Republican or a Democrat because I don't think people should vote on things just because a certain party does, but rather look at each issue objectively and then make your decision based on what YOU think, not a certain party. I was watching both Fox News and MSNBC yesterday, and all they did was talk about how the other guy is wrong. The actual issues took a backseat while they talked about how the other guy was an idiot for thinking that way and anyone in their right mind would think those people were absolutely crazy. I literally went from watching Chris Matthews talk about how Glen Beck was out of his mind, to switching to Fox News only to hear Glen Beck talk about how Chris Matthews is a liar! It's all just a great big game of point the finger.

That's what I think is wrong with our political system. It has become less about serving the people and more about cutting down the other side while bolstering your party's agenda. Can't we find a middle ground? I definitely take a conservative approach to politics, but I don't really like how the GOP portrays itself as a party full of rednecks and bigots. At the same time though, Democrats are too liberal minded and although their intentions are sometimes honorable, they often lead to excessive spending and inefficient policies. So which do I choose? I end up having to side with a candidate that I don't agree fully with, but at least he/she is better than the other guy/lady. There has to be another way. If we erased the hard line between Republicans and Democrats, we would start to see candidates who are true to policies based on what they think is right, no matter if that includes some conservative social stances yet liberal monetary policy. We would see a broader range of people running for office that more fully represent the people and their interests, not just a party's agenda.

But, what do I know? I'm just a 18-year-old college student who is just being introduced to the political spectrum. America has been a two party system all the way back to Hamilton and Jefferson, and we seem to have done pretty well for ourselves thus far. Maybe opening the field to more candidates would just lead to a small minority gaining power and an even lesser representation of what America really wants. Oh well, it's all just too complicated.

Hey batter batter

Ladies and gentlemen, baseball season is in full swing! (Pun completely welcomed and intended) I am currently watching the Giants dominate the Astros 3-0 going into the top of the 7th and it is wonderful. You miss the crack of the bat and boys in cute uniforms after six months without them (seven months for the Giants)! Although some people find baseball games slow and boring, I just love them. I could always watch a baseball game, especially live, and fully enjoy myself. Well, only Giants or Red Sox games (maybe even the Phillies now, but just maybe); the rest of the teams don't matter as much. Baseball is just so American. Sitting in a ballpark in the summer, eating a hot dog with your ballcap on, enjoying the sunshine and people around you...there's just nothing better.

For me, as I've mentioned before, the Giants are just so much more special. I went to a ton of A's games when I was younger because my mom works for the newspaper and got free tickets (after all these years we STILL don't get free Giants' tickets. A darn shame I know), but it was just never the same. The fans, the stadium, the team, just none of it compared to the wonderful San Francisco Giants. Going to SBC Park and donning the orange and black while watching the G-Men take the field is just SO much better. Maybe I'm biased because my dad is from San Francisco and raised us as 49er and Giants fans, but honestly, what team is better??

A bright, sunshiney day!

There's something about the sun that just makes everything better. Have you noticed that? No matter how bad your day is going or what is happening in your life, being out in the glorious sunshine on a bright, warm day just makes all your worries go away. There's a reason why Florida, Hawaii, and the Bahamas are all popular vacation spots...Sunshine! The best way to realize how amazing sunshine and warmth really are, is to go without them for long periods of time. E.g. Move from glorious Walnut Creek, CA to Bethlehem, PA. Sure, we've had some sunshine here the last few months, but it has only been between bouts of monstrous snow/rainstorms and even when it comes out it doesn't count because it's accompanied by 30 degree weather. I much prefer California "winters" with our chilly mornings and evenings that can be spent by a fire reading a book underneath a blanket, but where you can also get away with just wearing a t-shirt and jeans out without freezing and won't lose your limbs if you go running outside. It's just a better place.

All that said, it is a GORGEOUS day here on the east coast. A blissful 72 degrees with only a little humidity, flowers are in bloom, and hopefully the cold weather will stay away! I must say though that grueling through miserable weather for 5 months makes spring and summer that much sweeter!