Blog Assignment # 1

About Laura Allen:
This is my first semester at South. I am a junior, and I transferred from Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa. I go by L.J. but my full name is Laura Jean. I have a sister that lives in New York City, and I lived with her this past summer for six weeks. I am very interested in musical theatre, and I have participated in both community theatre and school theatre since I was seven years old.
I decided to come to USA because I regretted not moving away for college; the education program here is excellent, not to mention the campus is beautiful. My mother is a fourth grade teacher, and my aunt and uncle are both secondary history teachers. I am inspired by them, and also my A.P. English teacher in high school, Mrs. Rhonda Brinyark. I want to impact high school kids the way some of my teachers impacted me, and motivate them to set goals and get good grades.
I am very passionate about community service. I love helping people in any way that I can. When someone is pulled over on the side of the road, I always stop to see if they need help. If high school children are standing in a parking lot with buckets trying to raise money for their school club, I always try to contribute. Things like that just make me feel good. I love to sing and dance, and I'm always looking to try something new. I also love animals, collect skeleton keys, and like to travel. I've been to London and Paris, and wish to someday go to Greece and Ireland.
About Randy Pausch's Lecture on Time Management:
Randy Pausch has some interesting ideas for time management that I have never thought of before. For example, he says that you should always have a plan for every day, every week, every semester, etc. He states that "failing to plan is planning to fail", but I don't always think about planning out what exactly I have to do each day in order to ensure that I get it all done. I am, however, a firm believer in to-do lists. When I know I have a lot going on, I tend to write it down in my notebook with the date on it, so I can check things off as I complete them. Pausch suggests that questions should be asked when setting goals and priorities (i.e. "why am I doing this?” "What is the goal?” and "what will happen if I don't do it?"). This is a good way to decide what is most important in your schedule. He also makes a valid point that it's not doing things right that is most important, but doing the right things, which is also about prioritizing.
About Randy Pausch:
Based on my research, Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, was married with three children, and had terminal pancreatic cancer. He gave his "last lecture" in 2007 when he only had months to live, which was later made into a popular book.
About Penn State University's Time Management Lessons/Exercises
Penn State made some suggestions ,about time management and study planning, that were very helpful to me. For instance, it was mentioned that you should not study where you sleep, to keep from getting tired or sleepy during study time. This is one of the most common mistakes I make. I tend to fall asleep book in hand before finishing my work or studying. Another good idea of theirs is to record yourself reading your notes so they can play during any free time or while exercising. This would be extremely helpful for me because I spend a lot of time walking to and from class, and this would give me an opportunity to make use of that time. Some obvious but good advice that is also brought up is to learn to say no, and to try and fit one more task into your schedule before you go to sleep. This helps to cut down on things you have to do the following day.