During today’s class, we have these goals:

• Beginning of Class Writing on the “Attention” chapter from John Medina’s Brain Rules. Spend the first ten minutes writing a summary of your reading in your notebook. Also, write about your own experiences with maintaining attention, losing someone’s attention, and dealing with distraction.
• Presentation on “Attention” and subsequent discussion.
• Peer Review Team exercise with the brainstorming writing that you began in our last class and brought print outs of your typed up results.
• End of class reminders for next week.
  • Post your beginning of class writing to OpenLab before our next class on Wednesday, 10/14. Keep up with the reading: “Memory” chapter is next.
  • Begin writing Project Two introduction.
  • Print out the pages from your department’s section of the College Catalog.

Resources for today’s discussion:

During the first ten minutes of class, write your summary of the “Wiring” chapter from John Medina’s Brain Rules. What are some of the most important things that you remember from the chapter? What is special about the wiring of our brains? How does our wiring reflect who we are individually? How does our wiring reveal how we are similar, too? What is the Jennifer Aniston neuron?

The Boy Who Would Never Stop Looking Up

        My name is Kevin Rojas and I am a student at New York City College o f Technology. I am following a path in the mechanical engineering field. My desired goal is to someday work at NASA, designing rockets and or space shuttles that go up into space. Becoming an astronaut would be a huge plus. My fascination with space has always followed me in my life. I’ve always had a habit of looking up at the night sky not knowing what to make of it until I eventually decided to invest in a better way of staring into the unknown. From acquiring my first telescope, to watching meteor showers, to eventually visiting the Kennedy Space Center, my curiosity with space intensified.

        When I was younger I always stared up at the night sky blankly without any idea of what I was staring at. I just knew that there some kind of attraction to the dark void that hovered all over us. I learned all of the star constellations, location of planets, and directions of where far off galaxies or other celestial bodies were. I always tuned in onto shows like Cosmos or NOVA and sit there glued to the tv. My friends would always talk about their favorite cartoon shows from when they were kids, and don’t get me wrong, I have some of my own as well. But I like to remember these shows about science and to a greater and major extent, space more than then the cartoon shows because I feel a greater importance and value behind the knowledge I acquired from watching them. I was about nine years old and my parents noticed how much of a space-obsessed kid I was by then and decided to thankfully reinforce my curiosity and they bought me a telescope. It wasn’t all too fancy or big, but it was enough for what I wanted to see back then. Its lenses power was strong enough to see Betelgeuse, a decently far away star. But the telescope finally allowed me to see far into space and see the beautiful astronomical bodies in more detail. I was in awe when I first peered through my telescope on a crisp and clear October night. From then on I would routinely use my telescope almost every week on Friday nights. Of course, whenever there were special events such as eclipses or comets, I’d watch them too. Now I have upgraded to a more advanced and fancy looking telescope that has a powerful lenses, which allows me to see really far. Thus, acquiring my first telescope helped my fascination with space grow even more.

        Only two years after getting my first telescope I already had seen most of the constellations and planets in our solar system or at least I thought I did. My friend who also shares the same interest as me at the time told me about the idea of watching a meteor shower. At this point in time, I knew what meteors were and that there are events where they would fall down to the earth and scatter all around. But I had already missed the past two meteor showers due to unfortunate coincidences of having to do other things. However, once my friend told me about the one coming at the end of the summer I had to plan everything out where I wouldn’t miss it no matter what. Now with watching a meteor shower you also need a good location where there is little to no light surrounding you. Hence, my parents decided to take me to the Poconos where we have a cabin to stay in in the forest. I brought my telescope, which was a newer model compared to the first one I got and I was ready to watch the meteor shower.  I knew that to some people watching something like this might be a waste of time since its just debris of an outer space rock falling to the Earth, but I like to see it that it’s an astronomical phenomenon that we are lucky to witness as a species. Once there, it was already nightfall and I quickly set up my telescope next to the car not waiting to miss anything. I peered through the telescope and immediately saw the meteors streaking across the night sky. I was mesmerized at the sight. I wouldn’t look anywhere else but up at the sky through my telescope. I counted more than twelve meteor like fragments entering our atmosphere. Standing there I realized that I this is what would define me as a person. The love for what is up in the dark void we call space is something I have and would like to grow more and more of through experiences like these.

        The Kennedy Space Center is a place of much respect and high caliber.  It’s the location of NASA’s launching sequences and to the general public where the rockets or space shuttles lift off into space. It’s the closest I’ve ever gotten thus far in my life to witnessing the whole NASA experience. I luckily got to go here when I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. I knew that the ship would stop down in Florida so I had already had my parents buy the tickets before hand. Once we stopped in Port Canaveral we immediately took a shuttle bus to the center and arrived there really early in the day. It was a pretty hot day and once we entered the center there was a full blast of the AC.  Once I was inside the facility I quickly became a kid at a toy store. I laid my eyes on every old decommissioned space shuttle or rocket that was on display.  I also ventured into the zero gravity rooms where you could experience a weightlessness sensation in a zero gravity chamber. The moon landing exhibit was the most exciting part in my opinion. It really made me feel like as a species we’ve come a long way. It was an inspirational experience because humans went from hunting using sharp sticks to engineering large scale rocketships and exploring space. It was at this moment that I had figured out my true purpose or desired goal in life. I would like to ultimately experience what Lance Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went through during their expedition to the moon. I knew that a pinnacle moment in my life would be achieving this and I never felt so determined on anything in life as much as I did that day.

Space is such a beautiful collection of things in all of existence. Our planet Earth is a mere speck in the luscious ever expanding art that is the universe. Exploring the whole universe would take an infinite amount time. Of course, if one were to explore the whole universe it would be impossible due it growing. However, we’re getting farther and farther away from our planet. Either through humans going up there or sending highly advanced rockets, we’re advancing technologically speaking and I’m excited for the future as to what I’m in store when I work for NASA. Studying here at City Tech, I believe this to be my first stepping stone of many to come. With working at NASA as my final step in goals that I’d like to achieve, I have to make my own correct path that I see fit in order to reach it. I must not lose hope and focus on the main goal. Hence, I believe that I will make it to NASA.

Hello, my name is Carlos Villalva and I’m currently enrolled to New York City College of Technology. Heading into my first year of college is a big step for me, to achieve my degree. I have been told that college is tough and an order to pass my class, I need to abandon the many things that I do for fun. This is so, I can stay on track and not play catch up. Leaving behind some fun activities behind, is no big deal for me, but the one thing I can never abandon is Soccer. This simple sport had played a big role on me, since the day my dad thought me, how to play. Since then, soccer is very important to me because it defines who I am. The following reason is that soccer is a way of life and it can give freedom to anyone. Soccer has personally had helped me gain my confidence and also taught me, many valuable life lessons. For many people out in the world, they can relate to how soccer became a part of their life as well. This sport is truly an amazing sport.

Many individuals, including myself calls it futbol, the beautiful game because the feeling one can get when playing or watching their favorite team play. A passionate person like me will feel sorrow if my team or favorite team loses in an important game and will feel joy and happiness if we win that important game. Fans of this sport, would wake up and search news of what they have miss every time they slept, and would make time to watch any game that was available on TV. I’ll make time every day I could to find a way to play without disturbing my studying time. For me, personally I have always found two huge differences between the feeling of watching the beautiful game on TV and from playing it. I remember when my favorite team, Real Madrid, lost in the semifinal for the third time in a row. I felt devastated for the entire day, thinking if they did one thing differently, the outcome would have been different. Seeing one of the star player’s in the Real Madrid brake down in tears was a feeling I would also understand last year. When my team lost 2-0 in the round of 16 of the playoffs. When the referee had whistled for full time, my team mate and myself broke down in tears in the inside, everything became quiet for me as I realized this was the last year for me to play for my High School. I had gave everything I could have for these colors, but ultimately I failed to give the one trophy my coach and the school craved for. My teammate, who had\s 2 more years left in high school came to gave me helping hand, by telling me “thank you for everything and it’s been an honor to play alongside me.” As I arrived home that day, I was sad and mad at myself because I felt I could have done better at the moment I had my chance but I missed, thus I was sad for the entire week. Winning is easy for any team to do, but getting back up after a defeat is hard to forget.

Everyday in our life, it is clear that not everybody has the privilege to have the freedom to do what you want, due to the restrictions they face. Although soccer has some restrictions when playing a league game, it won’t affect you from having the freedom of expression. People would think of soccer as an ordinary sport and nothing more. That is where they are wrong because it’s more than that, it’s an art. Everything about soccer is art from attacking to defending because like an artist, you create your own style of futbol that defines you. Giving a good pass, beating players and getting the ball back is where freedom comes to play, since it’s entirely up to you to do whatever you think is right. What makes soccer more remarkable is the fact there is another form of it, which is called freestyle. This form of soccer differs from playing soccer because you don’t need to play to freestyle. Freestyle is where you juggle the ball, while doing amazing tricks for a long period of time, without the ball dropping to the floor. You can do this with a friend or by yourself. What I consider true freedom is where you just have fun, no matter if you are not a good player or can’t freestyle well. Soccer is a way to escape from your problems or stress and just let loose by enjoying yourself. Personally, I play soccer to escape the restriction I get from my projects, school and at home. The freedom I receive helps to define the person who I am. Not everyone is gifted with the idea of self expression, but those who seek it often play soccer as means to achieve it.

Confidence, is the key to success. Many people in the world lack this characteristic for many reasons. Confidence is when a person is certain of their own ability or character to make a choice without hesitation. It is often mistaken for someone being too cocky or stubborn, because of the simple fact not many people have seen someone who is just confident. I remember a time when I was younger, where I lacked confidence greatly and it affect the way that I play. This is because I was shy, uncertain and most of all I lacked experience, not only on the soccer field, but in life as well. While playing as a youngest with the grown up, I was often criticized for not being as good, which ultimately hurt my self esteem, when I thought I play well. Gaining confidence is no easy accomplishment because it isn’t something you can just do overnight, but days of mentally and physically training. I learn this the hard way because that’s was my motivation as a child. I knew from as a child gaining self esteem, won’t just improve my game greatly, but influence me in my social and school life. Training by myself, in all my skills had help me believe that the choices I make while playing were the correct ones. While playing again with all my confidence, the grown ups were impressed of how much I mature, but the others would still criticize me. I would just ignore both the praise and criticism because if I listen to them I would either get over confident or start from square one. It had took me a long time to gain my confidence, but in the end it was all worth it. I have never felt any better. After putting myself into intense training everyday, it had help me gain the courage to join my school team.

Gaining something you want requires a lot of hard work, but you can lose something on a instance. Soccer has taught me, many very important life lessons, but the one I will never forget is that life is cruel and very tough. After finishing my first season with the team, I was always the first choice sub because of my flexibly and understanding of the beautiful game, but I was determine to push myself to become a starter. Training during the weekend, I felt that I was unstoppable because I improve everything in my self, all of my passes was accurate and I was easily able to beat a player left and right, without hesitation. What could have possibly gone wrong, with the form I had, but then came the slide tackle that I would never forget. Playing a friendly and fun game in the park with the folks, but one individual didn’t take this friendly as a friendly game because he wanted to win, really badly. As both of us try to get the ball, I was able to give a great cross to my teammate, but it ultimately came with a cost of him sliding tackling at my ankle. It was the first time this ever happened to me, spraining my ankle was the worst pain I ever felt and I was dumbfounded, sad and angry at him. Was that really necessary of him, I ask myself, while rolling around in pain. I first got up to play it off like nothing happen, but only a minute later I felt it that I could no longer play with all this pain in my right leg. It had took me about 2 week to heal, but it would take just another slide tackle on my other leg to put me back injury, for another 2 week. I had gain some weight and lost some of my technique, but I didn’t think it would happen again. That is where I was truly wrong, I pick up a serious sprained ankle again on my right leg, while playing with my friends. Just only a month away for my high school tryout and I was beaten up mentally and physically, all I could have think of is just to give up. Soccer or in life in general can be cruel and unfair, but that is no reason to give up.

The easiest thing a person can do is make up an excuse for something that doesn’t go their way. I was about to use my injury as an excuse for not joining the team, not having the ability I had, that took months to achieve to be lost because of all this freaking injury, clouded my judgment. What could I bring to my team, was all I could think of? With all the attacking player we had on the team, made it obvious to me. The one thing that could make me stand out from everyone was being a defender, an area the team lack greatly. A month was everything I need to retrain my position from a winger to a right-back. It wasn’t easy from switching from an attacking mentality to a defensive minded player, with my sprained ankle still affecting my playing style. Any serious tackle on my right leg could put me out for the season, but it was the only chance I had and I was willing to take that chance to join the team. My sprained ankle would still be with me, during the tryout session that I eventually pass. Only two members of the squad, had seen me wearing ankle support and told me to tell the coach, so I could sit out with the other injured player. Automatically, I responded “no, it’s not that serious, I could play”. They knew I was lying, but they didn’t stop me because they knew I could offer something to the team. I purposely hid my sprained ankle from everyone, so my teammate won’t hold back on me at practice and so the coach won’t drop me from first team because of my injuries. As the preseason games happen, I ultimately impressed my coach every minute I played, even though he had admitted, that I could use some improvement, since defending isn’t my specialty. I played every minute in the preseason game and at the end of it all, my coach told the entire team that I was the only one who improve during the break He also said I was the only one serious about the upcoming season. Those words meant so much to me, during that time because of all the challenging I had faced, the injury prone I had, playing with a sprained ankle and rehanging my position, just to accomplish my goal of being a first choice player. To top all that, I was a crucial and a key player on my team for the season, I played every game and every minute, giving everything I could for the team. Looking back right now, I have no regrets and I’m glad I didn’t give up or gave an excuse to prevent me from achieving my goal. My message to you is to never give up, when you face something that would bring you down, because at the end of journey, you would look back and be amazed of what handwork and dedication can bring you in life.

In conclusion, as a child, I had dream to play professional soccer because I thought that it would show how passionate you are. As I grew older, I realized you didn’t have to play professional to have a love for this sport. I’m grateful for my father to show me this sport and I would love for my future kid’s to play soccer as well. I want them to experience what I had felt and the important life lessons it showed me. High School isn’t going to be where I hang up my cleats, because I plan to join the City Tech soccer team and try with all my effort to win a trophy. Currently, I’m trying to become an architect and I dream of constructing an iconic soccer stadium for the USA national soccer team like, how Mexico has the Estadio Azteca and Real Madrid has the Santiago Bernabeu. I want to build a stadium where I can hear the happiness, sadness and admiration of the fan. As the World Cup appears more and more on condone country, who are not prepared for it, due to the lack of stadiums or building. It would be wise for me to get hired as an architect by FIFA to construct a stadium, which get me closer to my dream. For me, I always wanted to give something back to soccer, like how it has given me so much.

My name is Reynaldo Cabral, I am eighteen years old, I moved to the United States of America when I was seven years old, and now I am going to college. The major I am studying for is Computer Engineering. What I am going to talk about is time. It has always been an interest of mine. I am always thinking about it. My head is always in the future. Just being able to see an event and having the ability to change it or just look up to it. We all think about time and the ability to change it, but most just say “yea that would be cool” and that is the end of it, but not me. In my thoughts I remind my self of my past and the experiences I have gained from it, and look up to the future to set my destination. Thinking about my past and my future, imagining it and losing my head in the clouds because of it made me the person who I am today. I am a person that looks up to the future and prepares for it. I am also a person that looks back to the past as something that forged me for what the future has in stored for me. A person that looks at the present and gets through the obstacles that faces me. A person that may not be able to fix my past, but still makes a better future for himself and anyone around him. This is what thinking about my past and future has made me today.

My past may be full of mistakes, Embarrassing moments, regretful choices, and unforgettable moments, but it is what made me. No matter how bad my past was I would not change it. In my past, I have been homeless, seen my father hit my mother, got bullied in school, and got into many fights at school. The events that happened in my past shaped me to be a better person. Seeing my father hit my mother when I was in middle school taught me to respect women, I saw the reaction of my mother and how she felt, needles to say she threw the house phone at him and kicked him out the house, after words I saw how sad she was and crying, I felt bad and cried with her, this taught me that women should be treated with respect because no women should cry or feel sad because of what the man she picked to be with did to her. Being homeless was not the best experience in my life but I learned to cherish things, I found life to not be that easy, while I was homeless I lived in a shelter, in the shelter we didn’t have much to eat and we didn’t have anything to entertain ourselves with in the weekends, I was still going to school while this happened, I was in the 8^th grade, and most of the food I ate was there, but those tough time and running out of food in the shelter taught me that life is not easy but anyone can make it better. Getting bullied in school taught me how to be strong, I got bullied in school twice in my life, once when I was in primary school in Dominican Republic For having long hair and when I moved to the United States of America for not knowing English. This taught me to be strong, not to judge other people. Looking back at my past I ensure that the decisions I make now prevent it from repeating. These experience has given me knowledge to advise or help a friend who needs the guidance or is felling down, I may not be able to ensure a great guide but being able to just point to the right path that might help get them back in track and feel better. With these events from my past I learned to be a better person.

In my past there was not only bad times but also times that inspired me to pursue a Carrera for Computer Engineering. In my past, before I moved to the United States of America, I was about five years old when it happened, I got gum stuck in the disc drive of my home computer because I figured the gum would take shape of a CD in the drive and create a bubble gum game. When my dad opened up the desktop case to remove the CD Drive that had gum I stuck there, I was able to see the inside of a computer for the first time; I was amazed by all of the different parts of a computer. Ever since that day, I loved taking apart anything I could find and trying to figure out how it worked. My mom would have to hide the screwdrivers from me because I wanted to take things apart. Even though I loved to take things apart I could never be able to put them back together with is one of the reason she hid the tools away from me. Ever since that day I loved computers and the parts inside. I always wanted to make my own computer get all hands on and feel an accomplished when I completed it. I think it is cool the way every piece can not work with out the other, for me it representing the human body in someway, even though we have endless storage in our brain and the computer has a limited amount. This has motivated me to be a Computer Engineer when I grow up and end up being the best next thing like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

The future is now where I focus my gaze. The future can have many outcomes. The future is not a set destination unless you make it one, and it is not a set goal until you make it one. The decisions we make create our path that leads to one of the many outcomes and possibilities that can take place. With these things in mind I lay out the possibilities and choose which once could lead to the best outcome. I always make sure to keep a positive mind of what could happen. I took the computer engineering as my major because I want to use my vision of the future to create electrical devices or computers that can help humanity advance even further than what we have so far. As we all know the future does not always goes as planned but I exploit my surroundings and see if I could shape it to be as I want or at least close to it. The future as we know is always passing by as the present. Once the future starts to pass by as the present it comes with obstacles we have to overcome and make it the way we planned it to be. The future can be any given distance, it all depends what we are preparing for.

I look into the future for answers and I look into the past to help me make decisions. While the past shapes me, the present challenges me. Looking to the future inspires me to design the next best thing in this century. It may not be now but it could be tomorrow. What we do in the present is our cause, and it effects what we will become in our future. Our failure, bad times, our good times, and our experiences are fragments of a bigger picture and they are what made you today and for the future.

My name is Pooran Nardeo, and I’m a student at The New York City College of Technology. At this moment I’m only eighteen years old, just starting out my life as an adult. My major is electrical engineering. Automobiles reflect my past, my present, and my future, it is something that for me went from a hobby to an obsession. Automobiles reflect on who I am because of my obsession with it. There are several reasons why automobiles have become such an important part of my life. This includes, the fact that I grew up with automobile. Another reason is that I wanted to be a car designer, which would be my dream job if I had to pick. Growing up, I started to realize that there is more to automobiles than just the fancy car, that’s why in high school I decided to join the automotive program, something that I would never regret doing. This wasn’t just a hobby to me this was where I met some of my best friends, people that share the same interest as me and someone I could ask for help if I needed. Finally now after high school, after knowing all about how cars work, things that I didn’t know before, I would like to design and build my own car. Automobile is the one thing that has the most impact on my life and it will stay this way as long as my obsession for car is still there.

If there is one thing that I could remember since I was a child, it was the fact that I had a collection of model cars. This is what starts off my long love for automobiles. There is one person I have to thank for this and that person is my dad. He was the one that got me my first model car. At that point in my life all that was to me was a square box that could roll. As time goes on these square boxes that could roll got more interesting. I realized that they’re everywhere, big and small. That’s when it hit me, these machines are very important in our everyday lives and from there on my curiosity had push me to learn more of it. I would be asking questions everywhere and anywhere I go, questions like, how does this work, what makes that part move, why is that there, and how important is that. By doing that it helped me learn a lot, because I didn’t know any of the parts. That was a great way of full in up my knowledge bank, because now I could name almost all the parts in a typical everyday car and know how most of the parts work. This was an experience in my life that was worth every second. This is because I didn’t lose interest in it, I only grew more, of it and it’s something that will stay with me throughout my life. Automobile was the building block of my childhood. It is number one on my list of things that make my childhood so interesting and amazing.

Designing cars is something I wanted to do since I was introduced into the world of cars. It would be consider, my dream job if I had to pick one. Designing cars is not something I just talk about, this is something that I actually do. I’m not very good at it yet, but I’m trying. I realized I have ability one day when I was bored in class. I had nothing to, so I took my pencil and started to sketch. At first I was just a bunch of scribble and then an image pop in my head, it was one of my favorite car. It was a Ford GT40. Now that I’m getting good at it I started to sketch my own creation. My favorite way of sketching now is what I call mix and match, it is pretty simple I take parts from different car and put them together to come up with my own design. The stage right now is mostly trial and error because not all of the sketch comes out the way you have it in your head. Sometimes you find that one rare occasion were it comes out looking perfect, even better than the picture in your head. Now that I’m so accustomed to sketching cars I do it everywhere. Especially when I’m bored in class, for some reason this actually works in my favor because although I don’t pay attention in class a lot I still remember the stuff. I even think about car while walking, I’ll be looking at cars and see in my mind is there a way to make it better or what need to be added to it to make it look better. I’ll be picturing it in a whole new way. This is how my view on automobile changes how I see the world both visually and on paper.

As I grew up, I started to realize that there’s more to automobile than just the fancy cars. I started to see how important they are to our everyday life. How without these marveling technologies, the world wouldn’t be the same. The development of automobile in the early 1900s, redesigned the way we live. This is due to the fact that because of cars and the easy access to transportation, we started to build urban communities. This meant that we stared to move out from the heavily polluted city and have a much better and healthier life style. For this major change in our life style and even our history, we all have to thank Henry Ford and hid model T. The first mass produced car at that time. Because of all this history that I learn about automobile, in high school I finally decide to join the automotive program. Those four years would be an experience that I would never forget and wouldn’t want to forget too, because of all the wonderful thing that I learned. It would definitely be consider a defining moment in my life. During those years, I found myself? I learn some very important life lesson that I would always remember. I found out who I am and what I want to do with my life. At this age this was pretty amazing. Although I know things never goes to plan is still kept it. During these four years I learn a lot about cars and how they function. I learn that it may look like a simple piece of machinery but it is pretty complicated. For one, it moves and they’re hundreds of different components and parts that are making that ability possible. During this course, I didn’t just learn about cars that we are using right now I also learn about car in the past and the one that are said to be release in the future. Like humans cars also evolve. They keep getting better and better as time goes by. This is one of the major problems in the automobile field, the changes. In our time Technology changes pretty fast and we have to keep up with it so that we don’t fall of the loop. With the help of today technology automobile can do pretty amazing thing. One of which blow my mine was the ability to drive itself. I knew this would be possible but I didn’t know it would be this fast. The only thing I’m waiting now on is the flying car, something that is yet to be possible. Those years would be something that I would never regret doing, this to due to the fact how great of an impact it have on my life.

Now that I’m out of high school and starting college, my love for automobile started to become my hobby. My love for automobile has helped me a lot throughout my hardest decision in life. One of these decisions was what my career job should be. Since I was always fascinated with the electrical and technology part of the car I decide to make that my lifelong career job. So far it’s going great, I decided to go in the field of electrical engineering, which is pretty similar to the electrical and technology part of the car. Up to today I don’t regret making this decision. I didn’t pick automotive to be my career job because of one simple reason. I don’t want to lose interest in it. This might sound stupid, but for me I don’t want my career job to be my hobby. I want my hobby to just be my hobby, something I could use to pass the time or even just do when life gets me down. I want this to be my motivation, so that I could get back up in life. Automobile have always peak my interest and now that it have became my hobby I am even more obsessive with it. My favorite part of this hobby is going to car shows. This is what makes this hobby such a wonderful thing, getting to meet people that share the same interest as you and even share ideas. These ideas could go a long way, with helping yourself or event other with making your car better and faster, something car fanatics like myself live for. Another thing I learn by attend this car show are the new technology and gadget that are been added to these cars today. These gadgets are not just to make our car look fancy, these gadget help up in more way that you could count. They also make our life driving a car much better and safer and in some cases even luxurious. This to me is a hobby because of how interesting I am with and all the life lesson I have learn from it. This would be one hobby that would definitely stay with me throughout my life.

My obsession with automobile had done a lot for me but the one thing I have to thank it for are my friends. Throughout my life I have made friends and lose friends, but when it comes to these guys it was different. The one thing that we all share it our love for automobile and that’s the same reason we still keep contact with each other. These connections all happen throughout my high school years. At first it did look like it was going to last, it seems as if it was going to be another fail friendship but because of our love for cars we keep meeting and as time goes on we started our own little car group. These are friend worth keeping because of the simple fact that they know the way you think, also because they there when you needed them the most, even through tuff time.

Throughout the years I have learn a lot and those are the life experiences that molded me into the person I am today. Now that I know so much about automobile, I don’t just want to learn it anymore. I actually want to start my own project building my own car. This to me is every guy fancy, having they own custom build car. At some point in my life I don’t want this to be a fancy anymore. I already have a few ideas on what I want my own car to be like. Most of these technology are already out, like for example cars that could drive them self without human input. With these technologies in my car it would make life so much better and even safer. Two of the world major cause for accident will be eliminate, texting while driving and intoxicated while driving. Your car will be able to take care of you. Although I want my car to be all futuristic, I still want it to have that vintage race car look and that look would be my all time favorite car the 1966 Ford GT40. Throughout my eighteen years of being alive I have learn a lot and even forgot a lot but the one thing that would always stick with me would be my love for automobiles.

My name is Ryan Karran and I am a first year student college student studying Computer Information Systems at New York City College of Technology. One factor that has really shaped me into the person I have become is the internet. The internet has impacted not only myself but all of society in both positive and negative ways. Some believe that the internet has made users lazy and very dependent. Others believe that the internet gives people resources that help to ease their daily lives. I find it to be both an interesting and useful tool that should have its limitations. Most tasks that people perform using the internet that impacts me are browsing social media, watching movies/playing games, and simply researching topics.

Social media has been really active in my life when it comes to consuming time. Social media has given people, like myself, a way to make friends easily and has opened up new opportunities for people that are socially or physically impaired to build relationships. I always found myself to be quite antisocial or nervous around people so social media has been a big role in my social life. It didn’t really help me to actually make friends but it really helped me with my communication skills. An example of this is when I use Facebook to comment under posts or even privately message them.

Unfortunately social media has also made me grammatically illiterate. I noticed that as I began writing essays or taking notes, I started to spell things wrong such as the way I would normally write things to my friends. For example when I would write “I’m” it changed into “im” or my “because” became “cuz.” I also noticed that my handwriting had really begun to degrade since I was used to typing and texting. I was so used to keeping my phone around me that I didn’t notice when I shouldn’t be using it. It was made known to me when my mom pointed it out while I was eating dinner at the table. From then on I decided not to give it social media the attention I craved for but to limit it to only two hours a day. In our society today, most of us teenagers put in a large amount of time browsing through Instagram or texting friends. Instead we can be doing something productive like learning to cook or exercising.

One form the internet took that really impacted me is entertainment through apps such as Candy Crush, Flappy Birds, Talking Tom, and Piano Tiles. They were meant for amusement or something to do with your free time but some people play it too often which ends up at their disadvantage. Every morning when I woke up, the first thing I would do is unlock my phone and play a quick game of Hearthstone. I also later became a Netflix addict in which I didn’t want to leave the house to do anything. This caused me to become a really lazy couch potato. Although it kept me entertained, I felt as if my days were getting shorter so I decided to try and take up some new hobbies. Today I learned to reduce my Netflix time to at most 3 hours a day.

Even though it proved to be a big distraction, I don’t regret it. I would only resort to watching Netflix or playing games when I have nothing else to do so it was the only way to spend my time at that moment. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that TV shows and games are educational or beneficial but they certainly are relaxing and require little effort. They help me to relax and sometimes even help me to fall asleep. Most nights I usually can’t even fall asleep without watching TV. Some games such as Hearthstone or Clash of Clans introduce needs for strategy and patience. For example, in Hearthstone you are required to beat your opponent using a specific set of cards you have. Perhaps some cards work better with others or perhaps you should wait another turn to play a card that you have in your hand. Playing games such as Hearthstone helped me to develop my analytical and problem solving skills along with learning not to be so hasty.

The last and most important role the internet has played in my life is for education purposes. Throughout my high school and junior high experience, I’ve been assigned research papers, online readings, and even educational videos so the browsing the internet was a must for me along with most other students. The internet consist of most if not all the information in the world. I find this to be the most useful resource provided to us because it not only saves us time and money but simplifies terms in a way that even elementary school students can understand. The use of internet is being implemented everywhere even in classrooms so I believe I will continue to use the internet as a source of information throughout my college experience as well as my professional career.

Although the internet was proven to be a great and reliable source of information for me, I found myself reluctant to pick up a book and read. Things were always much easier to just read it from a monitor or my phone so I never found a need to actually pick up a book. Today, most things come in a digital form so it saves the need to have to walk around with a physical copy. This way you can read from any device an open it from wherever you are whether it be your phone, tablet, or computer. In my opinion, this is a double sided blade meaning that it’s both beneficial and in a way harmful. I do prefer reading articles online rather than reading the newspaper or magazines, however staring at my monitor or even phone for long hours is unhealthy and has caused me a lot of my eyesight. Some have negative opinions while some have positive. Either way, if society today is implementing it into their lives, you’d better get used to it because eventually it will become common.

Stephen Hawking once said, “We are all now connected by the Internet, like neurons in a giant brain.” This really caught my attention because after reading this, I began to notice how dependent society is on the internet today. This problem may not seem so bad at first but the more I think about it, the more I realize the possible problems that could occur. Not only I but most of our society rely on the internet so heavily that if something were to happen in which we would have to rely on the old ways, it would be quite very difficult. The only solution that I could think of was to not be so reliant on technology itself which can also prove to be challenging in our society today.

I find myself relying on the internet because I use it so often. It’s part of my daily routine and may continue to be for a long time. I also plan to use it throughout my professional life as I’m sitting in front of a computer all day. I can conclude that the internet impacts me in both positive and negative ways but I’ve found a way to limit myself in the time consuming aspects of the negative ways. I’ve grown very dependent on the internet in that it makes my life easier especially when it comes to research and my social life. I also find it to be a huge time consumer but also a necessary stress reliever in the form of entertainment. Through the internet people can now find jobs, purchase items without leaving the comfort of their homes, and even socialize. This creates new opportunities for all of us and inspires a sense innovation.

My Name is Ryan DeJesus and I am an ASAP student that attends NYCTT and this essay will show you what I am passionate about. My primary passion if anything would be Poetry and Dystopian Fictions. Poetry, like books, can speak to a person in many ways and allows a person to view things from a different angle other than their own point of view. Poetry can range from telling a story to painting a picture in just a few lines. Poetry is something soothing because you can express what you feel, and the tone and rhythm adds up to your expression. Poetry has taught me that everyone is defined by their language; as in our words or our silence define who/what we are. A simple one stanza poem about clouds can convey things such as happiness, loneliness or even fear; this freedom of language allows anything to be seen differently. As with Dystopian Fictions, they allow what life can be like in the future, An alternate future if you will.

Seeing things with only one set of eyes is said to be wasted potential. Poetry is one of the ways to reflect beauty in our own language, and express art with the arrangement of words.  Poetry can be crafted. Poetry has no rules. Poetry is more than just expressing one’s feelings; it is a different viewpoint on a subject. Like any great writing it can open your mind to new ideas. For example, clouds, some may call it something peaceful to look at while others may just call them floating water bags. While another viewpoint of clouds may be a mood setter as in they can become “angry” and turn grey and cry; or they can be peacefully floating near the sun making the sky look as beautiful as ever. These views are easily interchangeable for any person.  A view of clouds can be changed with just some personification. It shows how it can convey complex thoughts and emotions in a neat and orderly environment, while maintaining a sense of beauty.

If we can see life in a different perspective, we can change our own life. Society has taught me, like a simple game of Tetris that fitting in will make me disappear. So instead of disappearing, I get lost inside of another world. It sounds corny because it is corny. That doesn’t mean we should separate ourselves from society; it means we should be wary of our actions in this society as one mistake could haunt you for life. Escaping into poetry is only a temporary solution to real world problems like studying for a test, or when you want peace and quiet. That’s another reason why poetry is good; It usually doesn’t take long to read definitely compared to a book and since they are short they use more complicated words and can improve our vocabulary.

Poetry can tell a whole story, a whole life time in just a few words; or may say some aspects of it. In the first paragraph I said I like poetry and that may lean in the direction of myself seeming like a loner type person. The way we talk, the way we communicate through body language, the way you look at other people all define who we are. Which shows what we do, Is what we are. A few lines such as these don’t seem like much , but many things have an ultimate goal that isn’t seen.

Both my interest of poetry and Dystopian fictions both arrived in my senior year of high school. My teacher (Mr. Key) has taught many classes that humans can easily become the equivalent of sheep. In the Book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury the government basically controls everyone through television. The protagonist is a Fireman; but not one that combats fires but burns books as they involve “free thinking.” When I read this book, I was surprised how a book from 1953 can predict how people can be glued to their televisions and a possible future. This really showed me that I shouldn’t adapt and become one with how society is rolling. In another book “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley it shows how people can be nothing but a number and a job. With this the citizens don’t care and influenced that change is the best possible thing which means getting rid of clothes that are 2 days old and taking a feel good drug known as “Soma.”  This interests me because in a normal life such as ours, we can only view that as a fiction novel and that’s it while others can see this as a wake up call. You may be asking yourself, “Where are you going with this?” or The answers are that fiction can become nonfiction at some point in the future , However if this were to come true, I really don’t plan to become another statistic to live life the same everyday but that plan crumbles when you realize that money controls the world.

Books and poetry at first glance seemed really boring.  I have always been less than enthusiastic about picking up a book before senior year of high school. Honestly, I’m not really sure where or when I managed to pick up this skill, but at some point in my high school life, I became very adept at understanding the tone of a book within 5 sentences. 5 sentences or at the minimum of 5 words is all it takes on where a book is leading onto. The same can be said with poetry as they are generally short and somewhat leading to a point. During senior year in high school, my teacher made us read books that generally had a theme of a dystopia or an imminent revolution. These books were just a foundation or a Kickstarter for my fondness of dystopian fictions. The same happened when I was introduced to Plato’s Allegory in which the main point is that people are afraid of what they are not used to. This does not mean that it is a bad thing as there is always something new to someone, such as when a  person is naturally afraid of centipedes or millipedes as some don’t know even know the difference in appearance . Back to books, they often have characters that are more relatable then most people today. A character in a book may have a fondness for walking long distances like some people do. A non-relatable character would have a fondness to sleep only with a headband on. Even small things like owning a dog or really enjoying the warm season of autumn can make you enjoy one simple character. Being a notorious daydreamer it helps to create scenarios in which you can or even put yourself in their shoes. Reading is an important skill for one to acquire, for kids, teenagers and adults. The more you read, the more you gain. It definitely has the power to give a new life.

Without my high school English teacher, I probably would have never discovered a life beyond reddit. A book may only show 1000 words on paper but it can say alot more outside of the book .Ever since I’ve read tons of poetry and created my own, I have seen new perspectives on many things such as how life goes on and how much people can differ.  Even with a book like 1984 by George Orwell, It shows how not everyone can be a part of a hive mind. Every pair of eyes belongs to their own person , each with their own  perspective.

                                                My Personal essay

            My name is Shamach Campbell and ever since I was young I always had this interest for art and graphic design. I loved how there were different styles of art and the ways they were used to create amazing pictures, games, and cinematography. Then one day I wondered about two things, how hard is it to learn about and pickup, and if I was able to learn it how far could I take it. So from then on I made it a mission of mine to learn as much as possible about arts and graphic design, and become one of the world’s next top artists. I needed to get in gear and I felt that as I went off to high I would be able to get a lot of more practice and exposure.

During my freshman year of high school I was required to take an art class, the only problem was that I didn’t know to how to properly draw things like people, buildings, and environments. I wanted to just rush in and get right to the advanced level of art as if there were some sort of shortcut. I tried to draw a picture of myself, and every time I tried to get it done as fast as possible it would always come out terrible. Eventually, I stopped and then thought to myself not every artist became famous overnight, it took some of them days, weeks, months, even years to perfect their craft and even longer to be recognized by society. So that’s when I decided to practice patience and also improve my perception. I would learn how to sketch whenever I could, I would go online and look up tutorials for symbols, scenes and characters, and I would even have people challenge me just to find new techniques to improve my skills. After some time, I was able to be good at what I did some of my work was featured all throughout the school and even other kids requested art commissions and guidance to improve themselves. But I didn’t stop there; about two years later I decide to take my skill to the next level and challenged myself to something a little more advanced.

During summer I had gotten bored and wanted to do more art but didn’t know where to take it, I tried and do painting, sculpting and other forms of art but nothing worked. Until one day I got so bored with and had no games to play, I decided I wanted to make a game and maybe do some digital art and animation. That’s when I found out about the program I still use today known as blender a 3d modeling application. When I first started to use blender I had no idea what I was doing, I didn’t know how to move around or spawn objects. If I was going to learn how to make a digital art I needed to learn all about lighting, compositing, texture, sculpting, rendering, and a whole bunch of different techniques that I learned to master. It was complex at first but I said to myself, if I’m going to make amazing things I not only need to learn as many of these techniques and styles as possible, but I also needed to learn how to be committed to learning it no matter how difficult it may be. If anyone .So I made a plan to practice as much as possible, so that by the end of my first year, I could make a picture then I can learn to animate and eventually I would learn to create a game. So far I haven’t created the game yet, however, during the time I have spent with this program I have made tons of art and even learned to make an animation. It had helped me learn patience and commitment along the way and I am grateful for it but there was one issue, since they were all digital I couldn’t just show my friends what I did without a computer so I eventually found the next best thing.

Nearing the end of 11^th grade I didn’t know how I could show people what I did and I didn’t want to join Facebook just to show a few friends some pictures, so around that time I found out about a site called Deviantart.com. It is a site dedicated to other artist like myself, a site where no matter how good or bad you drew wrote or created, there was always someone that wants to see you make it. After I learned more about Deviant art I decided to take my existing picture and put them to uses, a few days later some of the art I made I was getting likes and even being featured in groups and galleries. Ultimately I started uploading on the regular and about a month or two later I gained an audience who not only liked my art but was also willing to give me creative advice. Not to mention I even got people to give donations and feature some of it on YouTube recently. But there were some people he hated my designs, they would say things like, “it’s too bright,” “it’s to blurry,” “you should come back when learn how to draw like me.” While there were some really hateful comments, I said to myself that not everyone has the time and patients to learn I learned to what I know. So that’s when I decided to take advantage of those comments to improve my designs and those same people who wrote those comments ended up following and encouraging me to do better. I learned a lot of different art styles, found out about a lot of new fandom’s I can use for my designs, but most importantly I found a community of people who not only share an interest in what I did, but who are willing to help me grow as an artist.

In conclusion, I love art and design and appreciate how there were different art styles and all the different ways they are used to create some amazing things. So I won’t give up on my mission learn everything about art and graphic design and be the next top artist. Over the course of the next few years, I will worked hard to learn how to draw even better than I do know. I will create even better designs and maybe even helped people who want to learn how to become better artists and may want to learn more about what I do. I had the opportunity to properly learn all about lighting, compositing, texture, sculpting, and rendering. But most importantly I learned how to be more patient and make better commitments. I had a community he that not only believed in me but were also willing to help me get further and even give me money for doing what I loved. While I am here at city tech I am learning even more about it through communication design, both the necessary techniques that help me increase my artistic skill, but the different aspects of being a professional artist like being open to criticism. In the future I hope to implement the things I learned and will learn into what I do when I work as a professional artist, it can help me get more clients, make more money than I do now, and could even teach those who want to be taught.

And here are some pictures i made

My name is Edinsson Pena and I am an Immigrant. I migrated from the Dominican Republic with my mother and brother to the U.S.A when I was ten. I did not know what kind of future would be in store for me if I left my country. Now that I am 19 years old and a legal citizen of the United States of America, now I understand life a little better. I currently attend to the New York City college of technology and my major is Electromechanical Engineering Technology. I wanted to talk about change and how it allows to me to overcome many obstacles. Some might argue that leaving family,items they own and comfort, would be a great start for new experience.I can truly say there are a couple of key points that lead me to where I stand now. The impact American society had on my life and some of the struggles I faced was very challenging yet thrilling.Years in high school and the great turning points in my academic life. My time as athlete during  high school shaped me in many different places in my life.

I will never forget why immigrated to America. All my family, old friends and a decent stable home all left behind. Americans might wonder , why would anyone leave behind everything they own ? My mother brought me to America to obtain more opportunities and to have a better education. However, in order to do that she had to spend a great amount of money. In addition to leaving her career and dreams behind for me. She knew that a great sacrifice needed to be done to achieve an extraordinary change in my life. The dream took course once the plane from the dominican  republic touched American soil. The effects of American society impacted my life during the time that I was enroll in the fifth grade in elementary school in brooklyn New York. I was the new kid and everything that I knew was about to change. When the first day of  school arrived that morning I was very excited. My elementary was not that far from my  apartment. During the walked to my destination I was very nervous , my palms were sweaty and  my heart was beating fast. Little did I know that more events were to come. When I got to the school’s lobby I was confused about where to go. I could not speak or understand English. Then someone came and helped me get to my class. My class was bilingual and everyone was hispanic, just like me. In middle of class some kids were being rude to me and even threw pencils at my head. When I was in my country other kids did not treat me with such disrespect. I did get along with kid in my county because they were interested in me and they want to form friendships or play around. Seeing how the other kids in the class who were just like me picked on me, I then realize this country was not just for the generous and humble but for scrafty

I struggled more ever since that day, things were just getting started. I notice that the only way I was going get out of my hell was by learning to speak, write and read the english language. The sad part is that I was horrible at those things in my own language. I started simple,  watched people have dialog and I try to repeating it. In addition, I watched television every channel was in english. The processes was long and hurtful , but it was worth it so I started to be more optimistic about my situation. The Key to succeeding anywhere in your life is to change and end the procrastination. I had to learn that in the long run during middle school.                                                           

Everyone faces a time where they have the desire to change their lives , due to an unfortunate event or situation. I had my greatest academic career during high school, but before I speak on the subject of success and great accomplishments, I will introduce my failures and struggle. The most difficult part of course is that great change comes with trial and errors. I need to see failure eye to eye in order for me to make the first step to dealing with following situation. During middle school I probably had the most terrible grades in my whole class. I notice that if I did not make changes and give the best of abilities in my academic life, I would get left behind that year. I can say it was struggle because I did not grasp  the language, so writing homework and reading books was very difficult. However, I try to the best of my ability. I manage to learned how read at a low English level , also my spelling when horrible to decently good . At the moment was serious I remember my mother coming to teacher and parent conference. I knew that the moment teacher  told I had 65’s my mother would lose it. I would get yelled at , but the worst happened at home where I would be punished. Basically, I started to seeking for help wherever I can find it. I begged professor for extra work to do. My failure and errors will come haunt me when is it time to make a life changing decision that in involves a new start. At least that is what I noticed. I had to face this truth when it was time to pick high schools. Due to my low average during middle school my options were very limited. When I received the paperwork to select my top choices of schools, I was excited about new turning point in my life and it was a turning point indeed. My top choice was lyons community school. I can still remember the day they arrived to recruiting and present their school. There were a couple good policies the high school had. The first being that the high school did not factor in your middle school grades. Second it was a small school, which was able to work with me more individually. Nevertheless, I choose that high school as my top choice and it impacted my life forever. During freshman year my English improve, But I had doubt whether I was going to be able to succeed or fail. However, I worked with a burning determination and faced challenges head on without any worries because my teacher would helped me to the very end. I was thankful that everyone wanted help and with extra support I was able to earn a honor roll certificate. I thought I was not  intelligent enough to earn such Accomplishment.  The only title I know is of “Hard worker”, I might not be the brightest student in the world ,but I can always Apply my determination and persistence where I go.  

Wrestling is an amazing sport. when students participate in sports it helps them focus on academic work and allows them to improve their time management skills. In addition sports and the different kinds  of conditioning  students need to so keeps them in excellent physical condition, so if students are in shape it would be more difficult for them to get sick . I remember when I was wrestler during high school and having a really complex scheduled. I did not having any time be to wasted. I had to do homework or projects and afterwards wrestling practice for two hours. Wrestling practice was always intense. At the end of each practice I was really tired. I just wanted to go home and take a relaxing shower, but at times I also had to focus on homework or sometimes even studying for that upcoming quiz the next morning. I can honestly say that wrestling made me more persistent, also I was able to endure more challenging events in my academic life and outside of it. There was a time where I had study for the English regents and I had practice right after that. While I was running on the treadmill I was remembering essay  layouts, thinking about how to save time and the best course of action. Furthermore, I need to Acquire at least a 65 , since the first time I took it I failed after scoring a 55. Thanks to my couch and hours of homework help I was able to score a 68, so wrestling allow me to focus on my studies more than ever before. During my senior year of school I notice that I had learned how think to more critically and work with more determination under pressure or stress.

Life is all about making changes , going through trials/errors and facing new challenges without change there would not be any growth. I always hear my generation use the phrases like  “I can’t change” or “I stay the same no matter what”. In my opinion those phrases are very Ignorant and not very edifying to their own lives or other around them. I have observed  people around me and I noticed that they hate routines, so they must make a  small change within the cycle of boredom to live life with enjoyment. This small changes can range from take a different route while going home or even one of great magnitude like becoming more social with others. While living in America, I learned that I had to become an ambitious man that is always kind-hearted, understanding and have self-confidence to not only survive but to live a successful life. In my major Electromechanical Engineering Technology changes are fundamental to fixing a calculation to resoldering a different component. Change builds character and maturity. Changing promotes success and gives you new views in every aspect of someone’s life.