Hello everyone my name is pedro but, my friends call me peter or my last name Ribota. I’m a computer system technology student but I have a computer background from my country as a computer technician. I don’t really talk  a lot I’m more like analytical  person, I prefer to observe first what’s going on around my environment and then I make a decision on my thoughts. I know is weird lol.

I really don’t know my strengths, weaknesses as a writer, reader, and thinker because I’m not really into it. I hate writing papers but analyze and read a good lecture makes me go deeper in the plot of the story.  I don’t have any experience using OpenLab this is my first time blogging, of course except when I was on Facebook long time ago,

My experience with science fiction are movies, and videos games.  Any movie that is about space, monsters, unrealistic situation such as superhero, zombies, the end of the world, human with super powers. I can connect science fiction with my major or career because with computer you can create a whole different perspective of how to see the world. Like giving life our creatures that we have on our imagination or thoughts.

Soooooo hello everyone, my name is Alyssa. I’ve been a student at this school since 2013, which is exactly 4 years this semester. It’s really crazy if I think about it because I honestly still don’t get the ” senior ” vibe, and I can’t even believe so much time has passed without me realizing. I honestly don’t tend to speak up in classes even though I normally have a lot to say. sometimes I feel like there a group discussion going on in my mind, so there’s no need to let words out because I’m technically already having a discussion. And 2 discussions would just cause me to malfunction and go blank. So, if I seem to be in my own world I’m either thinking really hard about what’s being talked about in class or thinking about something totally off topic which has absolutely nothing to do with the class.

I’m an architecture major, I really love it, construction always intrigued me and I would love to do that for the rest of my life. Currently I work full time and go to school full time. I’m an assistant manager at Pandora, the jewelry store not the music app, and now I’m trying to get a job in an area of my field of study. 

I love to look at art and create it myself, in high school I was an art major, and now I’ve shifted my love of typical art to the art of construction and design. Growing up I always viewed television and stories as a form of art, specifically anything Science fiction related. My favorite channel was the Sci-Fi channel before it got foolish with movies like Sharknado. But the original shows like the Twilight Zone, Tales from The Crypt, Monsters, etc. and futuristic things will always have my heart.
Architecture, sci-fi, and my future career goals are kind of going hand in hand. because of global warming, weather changes and sea level rising, future construction methods will have to be implemented in a whole new way. Think of an apocalyptic movie where all coastal cities are flooded or damaged in some way, and society has to rebuild in a futuristic way so that the cities are elevated of have some means of blocking out dangers. That’s kind of our futures and we don’t even know it yet. by 2050 many costal places and beaches like Far rock will be under water, and it’s up to architects and engineers to come up with solutions to save these places.

With me I either really love to write something or really hate to write, no in-between. When writing about something I find interesting, like myself duhhh, it comes with ease. But when asked to write a paper on history or something boring ill literally sit and stare at the blank document till my eyes roll out of my head and start growing fingers and typing the paper for me. my greatest strength in writing or reading is that when I get into something I’m really into it and won’t stop until I feel it completed to perfection. my greater weakness would be my time management skills, they suck, long story short I’m a procrastinator.

I hope to draw inspiration from this class, I don’t like to look at the world in a black and white manner. I like to see the different shades of grays in-between, and I believe science fiction is the gray that I’m looking for. 

Hey Guys! My name is Carmen Garcia, I am 23 years old and I’m Mexican American. I’m originally from Queens, NY. I am a transfer student and a senior at City Tech.  I transferred from Borough of Manhattan Community college with an Associate’s degree in Science. I am ecstatic to be graduating and acquiring my Bachelor’s degree in Entertainment Technology. I have always been interested in television and films since I was younger. I would spend hours in front of the TV immersing myself in it. At one point I told my mom I wanted to be on TV. Of course, that didn’t happen I was only 8, extremely shy, and fickle (before that I wanted to be a teacher, then a veterinarian). None the less, I became more interested in what goes on behind the scenes. What it takes to make a film or TV Show. I would try to make home movies with my siblings, they were really poor quality, but we would have fun doing them. It was always a little hobby of mine that I never paid any mind to, until I got to college and decided to pursue it as a professional career.

Down the road, I want to be working in a major television network as an executive producer/showrunner or as a video editor. I have not truly decided which one I want to focus on more. The one thing I do know is, I want to be a part of creating something that captivates people as I was once captivated at a young age. I currently work for a juicing company called Juice Press as a commissary distributing manager. This was a major changing point for me that happened this past Summer. Previously, I was working at another juicing company, Juice Generation, as a store manager before ultimately leaving for Juice Press. Juicing in NYC is a big thing which I wasn’t aware until I began working there. I was also going to concerts, one of them being the Electric ZOO festival. It was an amazing experience, I got to see Steve Aoki. I also moved in to my very first apartment on my own in Washington Heights (Upper Manhattan). It was not only one of my major accomplishments in 2016 but also for my life. Over Winter break, I didn’t do much at all. I worked, relaxed and saved up to go into the upcoming semester. This semester will be my last and probably one of my most difficult due to the number of courses I took on.

I enjoy reading books and having discussions about them with friends. The last book I read was of poetry, called Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. One of my weaknesses is my writing. I do not write as much as I use to or as much as I would like to. I only do so when necessary, mostly for any class work. I do not push myself when it comes to critical thinking and writing. The last time I took an English class was a few years back. Most of my classes have been hands on or technical. I am somewhat familiar with open lab. I mainly used it this past semester during my Sound for Multimedia class.

I have had some interest with science fiction, one of my favorite book series and film series is The Hunger Games. I also enjoyed the movie series for The Maze Runner, and I have recently taken interest in Star Wars, although, it took quite some convincing from my boyfriend to actually watch it for the first time. There is also a new series on Netflix called Stranger Things that I took an interest to.

Science fiction has the potential to have a large connection with my major and possibly with my career interest in the sense that I could end up working through creative aspects in creating a show or film. It can help me expand and broaden my knowledge of genres relating to film and television. I could possibly begin writing more science fiction stories than I would have originally thought to. I hope to learn more of the history of science fiction through early works of films, short stories and novels. What made them so great during their times? What kind of impact did they have on that generation vs. how we would portray that today. Also, to discuss some recent works and discuss how they differ and relate to the classics. How the genre has evolved and all the sub-genres that developed and branched off from it.

Hello, my name is Hunter R, Brown,  age 20ish, my major is industrial design, I don’t have any real career goals along those lines yet, though i do want to learn some programming so I can make a game on the side. I don’t have any jobs at the moment, though that should change soon depending on the schedules I find that are offered. Some of my interest are, gaming in all its forms, medieval martial arts, science and animation.

I don’t really know my own strengths in writing since everyone thinks criticism is “to harsh”, a weaknesses though, I do have one that I know, and that is that I am dyslexic so, I do tend to maybe repeat or forget words from time to time, and spelling is not my forte either, this also goes for the same for reading. I like to write when I can though I mainly have to much going on to do any, reading I do a lot of, and my memory is keen when comes to that which is helpful on tests i study for. I think a lot, nothing really much else to say there. I’ve had a lot of exposure in Sci-Fi due to mainly my dad, my first real vivid exposure was a video game called: Homeworld: Cataclysm, and that really focused what I like in sci-fi, which is a feeling a isolation and advancement, though my favorite piece of sci-fi is a toss up between Warhammer 40k, and infinity. I guess industrial design would have to be a building block for the sci-fi concept of post-scarcity society and mor complex 3D printing. I guess I don’t really have much in the way of expectations and questions for the course, so I guess that’s it. oh and I don’t like taking pictures.s

My name is Aneita L. Torres, I am a student of City Tech.  My major is Mechanical Engineering, and I hope to specialize or at learn learn about robotics and build some cool machines.  I have already earned my associates degree, so I’m working now for my bachelors.  Once then, I then plan to transfer to City College to further my education as well as expand my horizons into things City Tech doesn’t offer.  The reason I choose Mechanical Engineering as my major is because of several reasons.  One of them being that I was inspired by video games and all the neat machines and robots that could be useful in the future.  Another is because, as I understand it, science is marching forward and the future is in machines, so if I take a job in that field, I can grantee having a stable well-paying job while helping people at the same time.  Though, my main interest, despite choosing this major, isn’t machines and robots, but in art, atmosphere, and drawing.

I love drawing.  I drew ever since I was 3 I believe, and I find it both fun and relaxing.  I later joined an art website called Deviantart, under the username “Minidragonfly”, which both exposed me to various artwork of various levels of media and skill and allowed me to share my art in hopes to show off my art and to improve myself.  Despite my interests in drawing, I did not take a major in anything relating to art due to my parents worrying about me not being able to support myself by simply drawing.  I respected their wishes in the end, and chose a field that I was sure I would have a successful life in that was somewhat interesting to me.  I wanted to go into Mechanical Engineering, specifically robotics, because I not only like drawing things on paper, but I also like making art in a sense; this includes sewing, paper crafts, storytelling, and building things.

I like reading and telling stories more than writing them.  While I enjoy creating stories in my head, fleshing out the characters, setting, and plot, I have difficulties capturing them and putting them on paper.  That being said, I hate writing my stories; I hate writing in general.  This is because, despite my love for telling stories verbally,  I have been made to write so many reports and essays, that it has put writing in general a bad taste in my mouth.  Even with the stories I share online, it’s in comic format out of spite of writing.  When it comes to reading, my interests tends to revolve around fantasy, with various other aspects like horror, humor, and world building.  When it comes to something like science fiction, it’s building a fantastical world close to ours with technology that we yet to have.  It’s an interesting setting that may video games and cartoons capitalized on for telling their stories.  This is why I chose Science Fiction to take as a course, as it’s easier for me to read books I am interested in.

My experiences in Science Fiction is mostly through video games and cartoons.  Many of the cartoons either have advance or futuristic technology or takes place in the future.  One of which I enjoyed that best fits the genre is Futurama, where it takes place in the year 3000 and, despite technology being so advanced, everything is treated mundanely and many of the issues we experience now they still experience too.  I just hope this class will go over things that are not just dystopian, horrible, or negative futures or settings.

The main thing I guess I can see between science fiction and my major is that they both deal with technology that will affect society, so it would be good to be mindful of the how technology could be negative so that we could either negate it or avoid it.  I’m expecting to read classic science fiction novels as well as hoping to avoid reading anything Star Wars related as I do not like it and hopefully read or talk about a book that isn’t dystopian.  Part of my hopes was already dashed when the 3 required books were all dystopian and I’m hoping not all science fiction books are dystopian books that says either technology is bad, all people on the top are evil and abusive, or that our leaders are out to make us their slaves.  I can not handle depressing topics very well without becoming depressed and moody, and to have this class to be that negative throughout sounds like hell to me.  I do not look forward to a class about a dystopian hell.

Hello there my name is Jennifer Guzman Guerrero. I am not very good with introductions in person as well as talking in general. The major I’m in is Electromechanical Engineering Technology (Had to check what I was majoring since I sometimes forget can you believe it but anyways). What I mostly like to do on my days off is play call of duty and Kingdom hearts on my PlayStation 4 as well as go for runs outside to relax also if I don’t play for too long I like to also read some manga’s and watching anime but mostly reading manga’s. I like to listen to any sort of music as long as it sound good to me I am okay with it but what I really listen to a lot is k-pop (if you don’t know what it is just check online I don’t what to explain what it is… yup). Well anyways I don’t have anything else to say so I hope this is good enough.

I believe is time for some questions from Dr. Belli so here are my answers (answers are not in order and the questions will not be written here because is too much work). I already had experience using openlab during my first semester at city tech in my python class I probably made a website but I do not recommend checking it out is horrible but if you want you can check it out just don’t judge I wasn’t sure what I was going and still don’t. My weaknesses in writing is that am not very good at it my spelling is horrible and I always make my sentences to long which is what I am doing right now, as for reading I read slowly not a fast reader at all. My strength in writing and reading is that there is none that I know of so just none. What I like about reading is that sometimes I like to pretend to give a character a voice they might have when they say something but in my head not out loud but what I don’t like about reading is that if the story is not interesting after like half way through a book I will not continue it. I guess my experience with science fiction is that in the game call of duty finite warfare is based on the future also played a Star Wars game that was for the psp. As well as seeing movies like back to the future, Transformers, also Star Wars (not sure if they count). I don’t think that science fiction applies in my major but I just wanted to try taking the class. Okay then no more questions (even do there is still one more question) now I have nothing else to say so see you later since we’re all in the same class and there is no need for a good bye.

Hello, my name is Jesse Lociel and I am a freshman here at City Tech. I was raised in Manhattan, then moved to the Bronx. In my spare time I like to play video games and watch anime as well as a lot of Netflix. Video games and anime have been in my life since I was young, and I honestly don’t see them leaving it anytime soon. I also like to listen to a lot of music, though it’s mostly not apart of the currently trending songs. I enjoy finding new music to listen to as well as finding remixed versions of older songs. For my career goals, I want to do coding for either computer software, games, or for websites.

As a writer, I don’t really have a strength. I would say my weakness is sometimes getting sidetracked when writing something like an essay. I also feel like I stretch ideas longer than I have to. As a reader, I guess my strength is looking for the meaning of a text. My weakness is getting bored rather easily and “losing the groove” if I don’t find what I am reading interesting in the slightest. I for the most part don’t enjoy writing at all because I think it just gets repetitive. I enjoy reading for the story. If the story of a book catches my attention and I like it, I usually finish it pretty quickly because I just spend my free time reading that.

I have absolutely no experience with OpenLab, but I do have a history with tech. It’s always been there as far as I remember. I have so many memories relating to tech (games, shows, etc.).

I have a lot of experience with Science Fiction, as it is one of my favorite genres. Whether it’s a book, a game, or a movie, I enjoy it all. I believe most of the books I’ve read in my life have been Science Fiction.  The same goes for the games I’ve played. Halo, Ratchet and Clank, even Transformers. Sci-fi is just a big chunk of my life. However, I don’t see Science Fiction connecting to my career interests. I see it as more of a……very good hobby.

I expect to obviously learn more about sci-fi, in regards to the aspects required for it other than a possible/impossible future.

There was once an idiot who could not maintain a 2.0 GPA. This creature of stupidity created poorly made games that pained all who saw such an abomination. This poor soul is also receiving complaints that he never plays Overwatch with his friends. This idiot… is not me, because I have no friends who play Overwatch.

I am a student at New York City College of Technology and am working to study video game design. I am currently working as a cashier in a restaurant in China town. My career goal is to make video games. Over the winter break I made a game that did not work how I thought it would. I had to duct tape a friendship back together between friends because of an amulet in a game. I also had a wisdom tooth surgically removed and another one violently torn out. Now one of the stitches is stuck in my mouth so I have to get that checked out. I got new shoes that make my feet sore after only a few city blocks so it hurts to go to places I want to.

As a reader I only take in the main ideas and nothing else. There is a lot of details that English professors deem as important details while I am confident that same details are pointless. As a writer I favor character design. I have a tenancy to create unique characters that no one can relate to, and I have no problem with that. I dislike how a writer always has to make a character a white male in his 20s to 30s just because they want the character to relate to the audience. I make all my characters impossible to relate to either demographically or characteristically. As a thinker I am complex yet simple in an extreme imbalance of insanity. My ideas can be complex but simple when viewed at a different angle and I can easily process some information but have a more difficult time understanding some other information. Sharing these ideas are the worst. Explaining the logic and methodology behind what I do is something that is frustrating and difficult. As a writer and audience I favor fantasy over science fiction. This is just a preference of mine since I can see how a world like mine could become a science fiction setting while a fantasy setting is something that is beyond my vision. Science fiction draws closer to real world inspirations and fears while fantasy is something that only dreamers can fathom.

Science fiction is a genre that I enjoy to a certain extent, however the classical works are not what I read or watch. I favor the works of entertainment that feature science fiction, however these works only feature science fiction as a setting rather than a focus. I am being bothered to play Overwatch which is a game that features science fiction in both its story and gameplay. Overwatch features a setting where earth is recovering from a robot rebellion and is undergoing political and environmental turmoil during the 2070s. The game features advanced robotics, bionics, and self-aware machines as character abilities and weapons. Another game with a science fiction theme to it is Closers Online. The game takes place during a dimensional war against aliens, although the alien part may just be a translation error, and the world must be saved through the efforts of a team of pshyonics freshly out of high school. Before you ask, its anime so that is normal. The game touches on topics such as terrorism, war crimes, corporate and political corruption, and anything else you can think of when fighting an alien threat. As a hopeful game developer I have written a science fiction story setting. It is an artificial city-state that characters have access to. I hope to make a game in such a setting to tell a story that, to my knowledge, no one has experienced before.

When it comes to using OpenLab, I have had a multitude of awful experiences with it. OpenLab is set to mimic a blog or a forum, both of which I have trouble with. Aside from the requirement to use OpenLab, I think that this class will teach me about the finer works of science fiction authors before my time. The many great visions and horrors that authors before me have had and told in their works, that is what I think this class is about.

Hello my name is Jaraad. Nice to meet everyone. I am from NYC and was born and raised in Jamaica, Queens. I am currently in my first year of city tech but I do come from another college before. I went to Queensborough Community College and I graduated from there recently with a degree in liberal arts. I want to do nursing and I plan to apply to the program this semester to see if I can get in for the fall and for my career goals it was always something associated with the medical field. I like to do various things in my free time when I am not  at work or at school like go to the gym or play video games. I read or watch manga and anime as well as some other shows you would see on tv, like for example the walking dead. Also I play playstation 4. I also listen to various kinds of music, but what I do have a big interest in would be rap and hip-hop because ever since I was little I grew up on that and have always respected and enjoyed listening to it. What I mean when I say this is that I enjoy the old classics from the 1980’s, 90’s, early 2000’s and maybe some after 2010, but honestly I am not a fan of the mumble rap that many like or those radio hits or songs that barely have meaning to it. (No offense to anybody).

My strengths as a writer is that honestly I don’t really know so I am sorry I can’t really answer that question. My weaknesses as a writer would be that I do sometimes make a lot of grammatical mistakes in essays and some of my sentences sometimes tends to be longer than they usually have to. What I enjoy about writing is the part of expressing how you feel. What I don’t enjoy is having to write essay’s sometimes. I do not have any experience using openlab, this is actually my first time. My experience with science fiction came from watching movies like star wars, transformers and some others and also playing video games as well. I think that this course is going to be an interesting one not just because of the fact that it deals with science fiction but because I will actually get to learn about it in a more in depth scale and also get to see how this class will be.

I’m currently a full-time student at New York City College of Technology, second semester in and fairly new to the college experience. The major I’m in is Mechanical Engineering, I have always been fascinated with all types of machines from planes to cars. In the future, I’ve hoped to work with more machine and learn how they operate. I have helped built robots before during my high school years for underwater robotics competition but never achieved first place. Ever since that, I have always wanted to build another robot that was better. The only hobbies I have are playing video games and taking apart broken machines.

My career goals have not been decided yet but two of my main choices are to work for an aviation company and design parts or to work for an automotive industry and build the latest car. Working toward my career goals will be difficult, but I hope to achieve this in the next 10 years or so. My desire is to change the world by building machines that better society. Maybe some day I will build something straight out of Science Fiction.

An interesting fact about me is that I enjoy food a lot and one day I hope to travel to exotic places and eat the different types of food they have there. I also enjoy playing lots of card games because there are many outcomes to the game. I also play a little of chess from time to time (not a master). One thing I have never done in a long time is physical sports, I enjoy running but not playing sports.

Science Fiction and Mechanical Engineering do have some connection, Science Fiction can inspire the building of machine and one of them that is already coming true is the building of robots. As technology advances some Science Fiction machine could come to a reality. The experience I have with science fiction is the movie The Terminator, where robots gain artificial intelligence and take over the world, this was also my first experience with Science Fiction.

Most of my strengths lie within my reading as I’m able to comprehend what I’m reading and understanding it. My weakness is with my writing because I have poor grammar and also bad structuring when writing and essay. I describe myself as a fairly average thinker and I think when is needed and not to overthink things. Overall writing is not my strong suit and the best I’m good at is reading. I do not enjoy writing because it requires lots of thinking, reading on the other require lot less effort and can be enjoying for me.

Openlab is generally new for and as I explore more there is always new things to try out including blogging, commenting, posting picture and more.

For this semester my expectation is to explore and learn more about Science Fiction may be there is more to Science Fiction than I originally thought. My expectation for this class is similar to English class which require a lot of reading, writing, and thinking.