4A It's either you have patience or you don't!

Delayed gratification is something that many people in America have or do not have. Let's define it first. Delayed gratification means to have the ability to wait in order to obtain something that we want. And so this applies to many aspects of any person living on this earth. In order for us to have anything we need to have patience. For example, if I go to BK and order something through drive thru, and I can see there is a huge line. If I really want to eat BK at the point then I must crave it really bad because I am going to have to wait through this long line in order to get my food. This shows that I have delayed gratification, but not everyone does. If I would have just left because I did not want to wait in the line then that would mean that I do not have delayed gratification because I did not want to wait. 

This has been a big controversy over the past years. Many believe that delayed gratification can be measured with the Marshmallow test. (Click here for more info. on marshmallow test ) They also say that by doing this experiment they can predict the future of the patient, academically wise and how successful they can become. Others say that by doing this test you cannot get anything out of it. That it is a joke and you can easily influence the children before the test. I believe that this test can aid scientists on how delayed gratification may work and possibly predict who will be successful or not, but it definitely it is up in the air when it comes to predicting one success in the future. 

As a society we do and do not have delayed gratification. If we want to wait for something to happen and push it through the government we have to influence the government on our idea and what it is about, but then we have to WAIT and see if our idea did go through or not. Anywhere you go, if its retail store, grocery store, Starbucks, or any store that are usually busy you are going to have to wait in a line. Even if it is short or not. People may not realize it, but we all portray some sort of delayed gratification throughout our days. If you sit and think about it, it is really true. If you want to wait and can wait then you do. If you don't and are frustrated you see people leave. We have the skills to portray delayed gratification, we just have to put them to use more often. 

Technology has definitely affected us and delayed gratification. We are advancing very rapidly for many technological items and everyone is out to get them. For example, the iOS7 upgrade for the IPhones just came out about two days ago and everyone already has it. Our delayed gratification for this new upgrade was present because that was what many people were looking forward too. Little things like this, delayed gratification is completely involved in it. And I do not think it will ever change.

"We can't control the world, but we can control how we think about" ("Don't" 2). 

4V New week, new words!

When you here delayed gratification what comes to your mind? When I hear this I think of something that you take in slower or something that you may do slower than others. The real definition of delayed gratification is the ability to wait in order to obtain something that one wants. So hey, see I was close with my definition! Here's an example to help you understand it better. So lets say that your 5-year-old brother wants desert really bad, but he can only have desert after he eats all his dinner. So your 5-year-old brother has delayed gratification to be able to wait for desert because that comes AFTER he eats dinner. So he has the patients to WAIT until dinner. Hope that cleared your mind up a little more!

Here's a little joke to make it interesting! :)

Microbiology is a class where there are always new words flying everywhere. This week in lab there are a good group of words that are new to us. Two of these words are staphylococci and streptococci. I know you're probably thinking what the in world does this have to do with microbiology and what they mean. Both of these words are types of way that the cells link together. Staphylococci are cells that form random clusters in a form of grapes. Streptococci are filaments that form long cells. Both of these help us distinguish the difference between the cells. Trust me theres more where that came from! 

           

                                      These images below are of what the 

                                         cells look like! Hope they help!

                                                            

                                                  STREPTOCOCCI  

                                   

                                                    STAPHYLOCOCCI

4I Comedy Show

Last week my roommate and I attended the "Laugh Out Loud College Comedy Show" in the Lyman Center. It went from 8pm-10pm and so both us thought it be nice to get a nice laugh in the night considering we have been doing homework all day. And we both showered and stopped by Conn. Hall to get a quick bite before heading to the Lyman Center. As we walked inside we thought there would be a lot more people than the amount that were already there, until later once we were all settled in, the stragglers arrived one by one. And so the show began!

First to come out were the announcers who were introducing the first act. The first act was one of the main acts close friend who also is a comedian. As the show started the first act was not too bad. He seemed trying to get his things together, but still managed to be funny at times which is what it was all about. He made jokes about his girlfriend's father who questioned him and he gave back some not so smart responses about Bill Clinton, which were pretty funny!

Finally as the first act finished he introduced his friend, Thomas Dale, the main act. He had been on Chelsea Lately the T.V. show on E!, which is very popular. Throughout his act he would always refer back to a fraternity that was sitting to his left and joke around. He called out a few of the guys in the fraternity and said their names sounded like One Direction, which is an all boy group. He made this one joke about how he thought he heard a water fountain in the park and when he went to see what if it was one, in reality it was some homeless person peeing. All the jokes he made were hilarious and it was definitely a nice way to end the night after a long day of homework at the library.

3I Navigating to Union Station

Coming from a small town on the shoreline, I have never really known how to look up train times or navigate myself using public transportation in a city. Well the day came when I had to figure out how to get to Union Station from SCSU. I was nervous even though I had my roommate to accompany me because she was also taking the train home. First we had to find out the times for the bus and what bus to even take. We were both clueless to what we had to take and where the bus stops were. So we called the town transportation and figured out that we had to take bus B at 6:45pm in order for us to make our 7:30pm train. 

So we packed our bags and headed for the bus stop. It took us a good 10 minutes to find the bus stop because I'm telling you we had NO idea what we were doing. As we waited for the bus to arrive, we asked another person waiting for the bus how much it was and we learned that it was $1.30 and we needed exact change in order to board the bus. We scrambled for change and finally the bus had arrived. When we called public transportation for the town before they has also told us that once we get off bus B in downtown we had to get on bus J because that bus would take us straight to the train station.   

Finally arriving downtown we ran down the side of the road looking for bus J. It was already 7:15 since the bus before has arrived late. Of course bus J had to be the last bus in line and we get on. I felt relieved because then I knew that I was actually going to make to Union Station and make it to my train. Arriving at the train station, I hurried to get a ticket and so did my roommate. We were just on time and not a minute late. This little adventure through downtown and using public transportation was definitely an experience that was much needed! 

3B Running with some limits

What I do to relax and forget about everything for a short moment is running. Running has always been something that helps me relax, but also stay fit and feel good. When I am stressed or angry I just put my sneakers on, some work out clothes, and hit the road. For me running on the road is much more peaceful for me especially around the neighborhood I live in back at home. My neighborhood is calm and in a woody area where there’s peace and quiet. I just plug in my headphones and run my anger or stress away or even just to relax. For me it can be easy at times to just get up and be motivated to head out and run. I always try to run for longer periods of time or longer distances to challenge myself and see how much I can resist. 

At times while I'm running I push myself and my body tells me to give up, but my brain tells me otherwise. Doing this helps me become better at running and have more resist. What motivates me to do it well is, knowing that I do love this and want to get better at it to feel good about myself. Before I would never even think that running would be something that I became to love and do a lot. 

I can learn many things just from running. I can learn how much I can resist if I push myself and makes goals to achieve. Applying this to my college career or education is not hard. Since I love to push myself over the limit because I know I can do it, my body just tells me otherwise, but I keep on going. In my college education I can push myself to make sure that I get the best experience I can have. I can make sure that I value all the hard work I have been putting forth because it is going to get me somewhere one day. Running is not just something that helps me physically, but also mentally. It helps me relax and apply myself to push my limits not only on the road, but also in my education and future. 

3A Motivation + Mindset

In todays world, many people get motivated to do things because of the reward in the end or just because they love what they're doing so much. 

Shakespeare once said,     

"There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so" 

What does this mean? How does this relate to motivation and the different kinds of motivation? After analyzing this into my own words I've come up with a conclusion that will hopefully help you understand this better as well. Shakespeare's quote explains how motivation has no good or bad outcome, but with the exception of when you are thinking. For example, when you are thinking about if you should do your homework or not you can have motivation to complete all your homework so that you have the weekend off, or you can have no motivation to do the homework at all and leave it for last minute. The good outcome of this can be for you to complete the homework and your motivation knows if you do it then you have the whole weekend free. The bad outcome can be if you have no motivation and do not do it then you to deal with it last minute and not complete your homework as well as you would have if you did it before the weekend.  

Lets look at the quote in another way, shall we. Between intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic motivation and growth midst vs. fixed mindset, I believe that intrinsic motivation and growth mindset are similar and extrinsic motivation and fixed mindset relate as well. Intrinsic motivation is when the motivation you have is based of off the pleasure you are getting from the activity not caring about the reward; when extrinsic motivation is the motivation you have is only because of the reward you are receiving in the end. These relate to the quote because with intrinsic motivation you get the good side of the motivation because you are enjoying what you are doing and with that motivation nothing else matters. With extrinsic motivation the bad you are getting out of it is that you are just worried about the reward in the end and not valuing the experience of the activity you are doing. 

Like intrinsic motivation, a growth mindset has some similar key components. With a growth mindset the abilities you already have can grow to improve, but only if you work at it and want to make them grow. The intrinsic motivation with growth mindset is that you want to be a better student lets say and you work hard long hours on doing extra work and attempting to better yourself in one subject. 

With a fixed mindset you also do your work, but maybe you may think you are one of the "smarter" kids and only worry about the grade you receive and what classes you are placed in. You are the "smarter" kid, so your parents probably do not reward your effort, but only the letter grade you are receiving because that is all that matters. With extrinsic motivation it can affect a fixed mindset as well relates to the quote, that with these two things your motivation and mindset are set on rewards and the letter grade and not value the process. But with intrinsic motivation and a growth mindset, you are valuing the effort you put forth and the experience you maybe enjoyed in knowing that you have improved for the better and not worry about the letter grade. As long as you improved, that is what is rewarding to you.  

3V What drives you to keep up?

In life you have to be motivated to do things or overcome things. But what does that mean? Motivation means reasons for why you are acting a particular or what is driving you to do something. For example, in college you have to be motivated to learn or even just to show up to class and listen because you want to learn and be successful, right? So what is motivating you to go to class and learn is you wanting to be successful in college and in life. 

Still don't get it? Ok, then lets look at it like this. If you tell a younger sibling if he or she does her homework with all the right answers, then he or she will be rewarded with a trip to the zoo. He or she wants the trip to the zoo, which is what is motivating them to get their work done. Motivation is something that many people use in life to get things done, get over fears, reach their goals, and many other ideas. 

In my social issues class today we went over a few terms that were new to me. They were an unwanted assumption and subjectivism. I'm sure you're thinking what these words mean too! 

An unwanted assumption means taking a assumption for granted without good reason. An example of this is stereotyping. For example, if you know someone named Jose Rodriguez, you automatically think he speaks Spanish or is Spanish just because of his name. 

Subjectivism means that one's truth matters of our own individual opinion. For example, if I say that the earth is flat, I think that I'm the only right because I am never wrong. Everything that comes out of my mouth is always the right answer. These words have to deal with the chapter we are learning which is about critical thinking. 

            Hope you learned some new words today as well!