Is it just me, or does anyone else think my new profile is uberly awesome?
The simplicity, coupled with the humorous drawings that reflect major characteristics of myself (love of food and dislike for dressing up).
Of course, I’m probably just building up my ego right about now. So, on with the summary!
Last thing I talked about was the visit to Baylor Med, right? Right. I went out of chronological order there, because the medical school experiences were the day before the clinical experiences. The day after clinical experiences (which was on Thursday) was the day of the Medical Ethics Caucus (basically a debate). Well, this was one thing among other events of the day, but the caucus was the main event. I was lucky and had a good team (MED groups were split into teams, and competed against teams of other MED groups. MED group teams didn’t compete against the other teams of their own MED group at any time. There were only two rounds, and each MED group team judged one round and debated in the other.). Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I was lazy and did no work, it’s just that, came debating time, my mind just completely blanked out on me. I never was really good at public speaking. Unfortunately, we did not realize we had to ask for the one minute rebuttal time, and so all we were able to do was present our side without refuting the other team’s arguments. I believe I would have done better during the rebuttal, since I would have something to feed off of for my own argument, but speculating all of this now won’t be doing any good, so I’ll be moving on now.
>.>
The next day was Saturday, which would bring us to the trip to Moody Gardens in Galveston. The weekend was designated for relaxation time, I guess. Before I forget, I should say that I’m pretty sure MED groups stuck with people in their own groups, for the most part. My MED group certainly did. We all started out at the . . . I want to say seafood pyramid, but I just know that’s not right. Aquatic? Marine? Well, we started out in the pyramid with all the sea animals in it. It was okay . . . I can be socially inept at times, and this was one of those times. I basically tagged along with the group of people from my MED group that I usually hung out with, or walked ahead of them at times . . . After we toured through that pyramid, the others decided to eat (since that we were supposed to eat dinner there because we’d be getting back too late for dinner at the hotel). After everyone ate, the group I was with divided again. Next place we went to was (I’m having trouble with my memory as of late. -_-; ) near the rainforest pyramid. Only thing we did there was go on this ride that sat us on this moving platform with a huge screen in front of us.
I’m doing a horrible job at explaining this ride, and it was very boring, so I’m going to give up trying.
After this I ended up in a group of three from the original quarter-group from my MED group (Me, David, and Jonathan). David wanted to go swimming, so Jonathan and I accompanied him to wherever the pool was. He ended up only going in the water for about a minute because it was the kiddie pool, and we couldn’t really find anywhere else to swim, ahaha. We then traipsed over to the rainforest pyramid, decided not to watch whatever cinema they had showing because we had heard it wasn’t worth while, and instead perused the gift shop. Now, I hadn’t planned to get anything, but I always like to look at the music in gift shops.
David and Jonathan are so awesome.
They bought me a CD, in spite of my many declines and attempts to place the CD back in its proper place on the shelf. Each time I put it back, one of them would get another CD with the music I had been looking at. I gave up trying to put it back when they were next in line at the cash register. -_-
After that, we basically hung out in the food court of the pyramid, playing with their purchases (spinner ring and bracelet, mainly. Haha, Jonathan’s bracelet went all the way up to my upper arm). A few minutes later, Jonathan’s room mate saw him and joined us at our table, and we commenced to playing cards. Oh geez, I love speed. ^-^ I’m also competitive, and one game, when I had only one card left and was about to put it down, out of my peripheral vision, I saw Jonathan’s room mate move to put his card down. I didn’t know which pile he was going for, but with my left hand, I pushed away his hand while placing my card on one of the piles with my right hand. “SPEED!” Highlight of the day, I have to admit. I hadn’t even realized I had done that until right after I finished the game; it was a reflex. o.O
Don’t worry, I apologized for it. x3
Sunday we were supposed to go to Kemah Boardwalk, but the rain prevented us from going there, and instead we went to Katy Mills Mall. I walked around with David and Garrett (who was from another MED group) there. First we visited Books a Million. I’m sure we spent at least fifteen minutes in there. Started walking elsewhere after David made his purchase. I think we went to look at music next, and I immediately headed for the anime. I’m so anime deprived, I couldn’t help it!
OH, two guys walked past me while I was looking at the anime, and one muttered some stereotypical/racist comment. Basically, he assumed I was Japanese because I was looking at anime. Ignorant idiot. GAH. D< This didn’t have much importance, but it stuck out in my mind, and I had to type it out.
Next stop was the Asian store, to look around; and then after that, the bubble tea place around that area because I persuaded David to get a drink. (He ended up not liking the boba/tapioca in his coffee, so I got to drink it; and, it was pretty much still full. SCORE! I <3 boba drinks.) After this, we just walked around the mall, and eventually met up with the other people of our quarter-group. They had already bought tickets to watch Transformers, so that was where they were headed. We had nothing else in mind to do, so we decided to join them. Mind you, this was only about five minutes after we had left the bubble tea place; Garrett, David, and I are fast-paced walkers, and we know how to weave through people. By this time, I had only about a quarter of the drink left. I paid for my ticket, and David’s, because I was adamant about buying something for him since he and Jonathan bought me the CD the day before; unfortunately, Jonathan had already bought his ticket. We found seats in the theater with our other friends and got ourselves comfortable, and I finished off the boba drink before the movie even started.
Darn David and his coffee addiction, and the fact that coffee’s a natural laxative. Not even halfway through Transformers, I had to go to the restroom. Of course, I’m stubborn, and didn’t want to miss any part of the movie, so I sat there and endured the pressure on my bladder while shaking my legs to keep myself preoccupied.
I have to say, Transformers is a very good movie; I certainly enjoyed it, even in my distraction. x] Well, the movie ended at around the same time we were supposed to be at our buses to go back to the hotel, so I left about ten minutes before the movie ended, took my restroom break, and came back out (surprised to see that David was waiting for me). The rest of the group had already headed to the entrance we were dropped off at, but we caught up with them pretty quickly. This basically ends the Katy Mills Mall summary, and now we’re on Monday.
Monday, the main event for the day was public health competition. Each MED group team (split into only two separate teams this time) chose a problem to do their presentation on that would raise public health awareness for that problem. Students judged everyones’ presentations based on verbal presentation and information presented on the tri-fold board. I admit, I basically BSed the second half of the paper. The students judged during lunch, and not much time was allotted for us. I think the FAs were telling us that we should only be taking about thirty seconds at each presentation. I missed lunch that day, but oh well.
Next was the public health symposium, which was a competition of the top presentations from each category. These were judged by some guests, I think (guests with a medical field background).
Tuesday was the last day, so the only thing planned that day was a MED session and a closing ceremony. I’ll explain about MED sessions next entry, and also tell about the social events of the nights. Fun fun.
(Aren’t I boring you yet?)
Overview of Events from July to the Present–Part I
So, I am officially sixteen (and five days) old, have my (provisional) license, as well as a car. And a new phone to match! I should be driving myself to school starting on Tuesday (since I do not have school on Monday, huzzah). I’m contemplating on whether to buy a parking permit because, apparently, the guy who checks all the cars for the permits is supah-lazy. I’ll probably end up getting one, anyway. But I am going out of order, and that should not be . . .
So, shall we start with NYLF? That would probably be the best thing to do, after all, that is where I a week after I finished the Blinn dual credit class (first semester). Luckily, I went to the one in Houston, so I didn’t have much traveling to do. All the NYLF students stayed in one a Renaissance hotel (Plaza 6?); I think we numbered at around four hundred juniors and seniors, although there was one sophomore. Just one. Yeah, I think one of the elevators broke or something, probably on account of us trying to fit as many people as we can on an elevator that should only be holding ten. The food at the hotel was mediocre, not like I ate much at the hotel, anyway. I’m sure if I had gotten room service, my attitude about the food would be better, but I’m stingy and don’t like buying things I don’t necessarily need. I cannot believe my stinginess can overcome my love of food. It’s amazing, I know.
Over the course of ten days, we took trips to various places of Houston. Some medical-related sites, hospitals, and med schools in the Houston area. The rest of the time, we were at the hotel, listening to speakers, doing activities in our MED groups (all the students were separated into, I think, ten or twelve groups with around 25 people in each; each MED group is named for someone famous who made a major contribution to medicine), or participating in the (basically) mandatory fun activities that had been planned for the night.
The first site I went to was the Ronald McDonald House of Houston, where the group I was with (since we didn’t travel with our MED groups for site visits) had a brief tour of the place, and then made lunches for the parents who were staying there at the time. For those of you who do not know, the Ronald McDonald House of Houston houses the families of children who have cancer. It’s close to the hospital where their child is most likely being treated so that the parents don’t have to travel far or pay ridiculous prices to stay close to their children.
The second site I went to was the Spring Branch Hospital (I think. Not too sure about this one.) The group I was with this time was separated into groups of four, and then, once in the hospital, we did hospital rounds. My small group went to the ER first, and since it was morning, there weren’t any patients at the time. Next we went to the OR. I was allowed to watch part of a knee replacement surgery, before we had to change rounds again. All we did the next round was sit in the waiting room, since everyone who was there was off for lunch. Our last round was the radiology department. I would say that round was the highlight of the day, for my group got to have MRI scans of our heads. Yes, I still have mine. Bwuhaha.
For the medical schools, everyone traveled with their MED groups, and I think maybe three or four MED groups went to each med school. My MED group went to Baylor. The first few hours were lectures from some professors, but I kept falling asleep. Dark rooms + tired teens = everyone asleep. Honestly, I tried to stay awake, but I couldn’t do much to keep myself from falling asleep. I remember resorting to making paper shuriken for the rest of the lectures to keep myself awake, haha. I gave those to various people in my MED group.
I believe the funniest part of the whole ten days was me taking the stairs up to the twentieth floor for my MED group. If you try to take the elevators ten to fifteen minutes before the MED sessions start, you’ll end up waiting for a while, because that’s when everyone else heads to theirs as well. The MED sessions were held in separate rooms on the Plaza (twentieth floor) and the Concourse level (level below lobby). My room was on the eighth floor. I’m surprised I never got sore from taking those stairs up all the time.
Sadly, I’ve grown tired of typing at the moment, so I have split this summary into two parts. Maybe you’ll get the other half of the entry in a couple of weeks, at the rate I’m going.
So, shall we start with NYLF? That would probably be the best thing to do, after all, that is where I a week after I finished the Blinn dual credit class (first semester). Luckily, I went to the one in Houston, so I didn’t have much traveling to do. All the NYLF students stayed in one a Renaissance hotel (Plaza 6?); I think we numbered at around four hundred juniors and seniors, although there was one sophomore. Just one. Yeah, I think one of the elevators broke or something, probably on account of us trying to fit as many people as we can on an elevator that should only be holding ten. The food at the hotel was mediocre, not like I ate much at the hotel, anyway. I’m sure if I had gotten room service, my attitude about the food would be better, but I’m stingy and don’t like buying things I don’t necessarily need. I cannot believe my stinginess can overcome my love of food. It’s amazing, I know.
Over the course of ten days, we took trips to various places of Houston. Some medical-related sites, hospitals, and med schools in the Houston area. The rest of the time, we were at the hotel, listening to speakers, doing activities in our MED groups (all the students were separated into, I think, ten or twelve groups with around 25 people in each; each MED group is named for someone famous who made a major contribution to medicine), or participating in the (basically) mandatory fun activities that had been planned for the night.
The first site I went to was the Ronald McDonald House of Houston, where the group I was with (since we didn’t travel with our MED groups for site visits) had a brief tour of the place, and then made lunches for the parents who were staying there at the time. For those of you who do not know, the Ronald McDonald House of Houston houses the families of children who have cancer. It’s close to the hospital where their child is most likely being treated so that the parents don’t have to travel far or pay ridiculous prices to stay close to their children.
The second site I went to was the Spring Branch Hospital (I think. Not too sure about this one.) The group I was with this time was separated into groups of four, and then, once in the hospital, we did hospital rounds. My small group went to the ER first, and since it was morning, there weren’t any patients at the time. Next we went to the OR. I was allowed to watch part of a knee replacement surgery, before we had to change rounds again. All we did the next round was sit in the waiting room, since everyone who was there was off for lunch. Our last round was the radiology department. I would say that round was the highlight of the day, for my group got to have MRI scans of our heads. Yes, I still have mine. Bwuhaha.
For the medical schools, everyone traveled with their MED groups, and I think maybe three or four MED groups went to each med school. My MED group went to Baylor. The first few hours were lectures from some professors, but I kept falling asleep. Dark rooms + tired teens = everyone asleep. Honestly, I tried to stay awake, but I couldn’t do much to keep myself from falling asleep. I remember resorting to making paper shuriken for the rest of the lectures to keep myself awake, haha. I gave those to various people in my MED group.
I believe the funniest part of the whole ten days was me taking the stairs up to the twentieth floor for my MED group. If you try to take the elevators ten to fifteen minutes before the MED sessions start, you’ll end up waiting for a while, because that’s when everyone else heads to theirs as well. The MED sessions were held in separate rooms on the Plaza (twentieth floor) and the Concourse level (level below lobby). My room was on the eighth floor. I’m surprised I never got sore from taking those stairs up all the time.
Sadly, I’ve grown tired of typing at the moment, so I have split this summary into two parts. Maybe you’ll get the other half of the entry in a couple of weeks, at the rate I’m going.
Outsiders in Society
Recently, in my AP Language and Composition class, my teacher assigned her classes a synthesis paper on outsiders in our society. We had read The Scarlet Letter and just finished watching The Crucible. We were to use three out of the five sources to quote from in our paper. Along with the two I have just named, two clips from Good Night and Good Luck (Or was the title the other way around?), and an article entitled “Just Walk By: Black Men and Public Space.” Of course, I know that my paper could be much better than it was, especially if I had started it sooner. For those of you who read my Xanga (if any), I hope you enjoy what I have written. Comments would be much appreciated, even though the paper has already been submitted for grading.
Philosophically, every person can be considered an outsider in another’s opinion. The basic standards that are considered when judging another to be an outsider remain the same for everyone, regardless of ethnicity, economic status, or intelligence. For example, a person born into wealth may regard him- or herself an outsider because they do not have to worry about financial problems. This person may also view one who is impoverished as an outsider because the latter is unable to provide for himself. Likewise, the impoverished views both himself and the one financially blessed to be outsiders for the same reasons. Although these two people are from different ends of a spectrum, the ways they consider people outsiders are the same. Therefore, people considered outsiders and those considered “insiders” both have a similar understanding of how this judgment system works. In today’s society, people of extremely high intelligence, people with a disability (physical, or mental), and people who are extremely outspoken are the main groups one thinks of as outsiders.
“Jealousy breeds contempt” lays the foundation for the ostracization of people whose levels of thought seem unfathomable for those of average intelligence. Society treats these people by three basic methods: mocking the intelligent, expecting superhuman accomplishments (exerting overwhelming stress upon the individual), or ignoring them entirely. Society has even created separate schools for people of such intelligence (although these institutions were established for the betterment of bright individuals). These actions cause exceedingly smart people to become extremely independent. An aversion to social settings may stem from this independence, resulting in social ineptness (even when with people of similar intelligence). A need to “fit in” may cause the person to not live at his full potential, wasting the gift he has been given. Society censors these people by not accepting them and implying that acting “normal” would gain them a more favorable treatment. Just as excessive surveillance causes Winston Smith in Orwell’s 1984 to subconsciously self-censor himself, stereotypical treatment of highly intelligent people will cause them to suppress their creative and cognitive abilities (source C paragraph 7).
Society treats people with physical or mental disabilities similarly to those with high intelligence. Some are mocked for their differences while others are ignored for their oddities; however, depending on the severity of the disabilities, little is expected from these people. For those with more debilitating disabilities, people trained specially to deal with mentally or physically challenged people are recruited to care for the latter. As with the intelligent outcasts, the government has established special institutions for these kinds of people. State schools undertake the task of teaching those with mental disabilities, at the pace the student needs, while insane asylums care for those who have experienced severe trauma that has rendered them incapable of caring for themselves. In a way, this is society’s attempt to distance itself from people who seem extremely different from the norm. Society has even coordinated Olympics especially for those physically or mentally challenged. Although, from this aspect, society (as a whole) cares for these people, many others act condescendingly. In the 1600s, people with physical and mental disabilities were sometimes believed to be connected with witchcraft and the devil (whether they be victims or witches themselves).
While society mainly ostracizes the highly intelligent and the physically or mentally disabled, it tends to suspect and censor the ones who blatantly express their opinions. In the past, everyone was expected to speak only in court when given permission. Expressing one’s opinion that disagreed with a majority of the people caused the person to be judged when they had otherwise been innocent. For example, when John Proctor questions the abilities of the girls to see the devil and his minions, suspicion falls on him (source B). One person would not disagree with the majority without a viable reason. Society has determined for itself what it likes and dislikes; when someone expressive crosses the imaginary line, certain people of the society become indignant and enraged, thinking that they have been wronged or misrepresented in some way. As Edward R. Murrow said, “[Societies] have a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information” (source E). Since society has a defaulted set of standards for the people within itself, such as political correctness, when an expressive person speaks his mind, society attempts to asphyxiate the individual, wanting to make him or her conform to its standards. Through this, people slowly lose their given right to freedom of speech and thought. Society should be more tolerant of such expressive people because their voiced opinions causes the rest of the people to think about the problems of today’s world. To silence and control them would be a mistake, even if their expressiveness becomes blatant and uncivilized.
In conclusion, everyone is considered an outsider in his life at some point, by someone. The world contains billions of opposites, and anything opposite something else can be considered unorthodox (or an outsider, in this case). One does not even have to be a polar opposite of someone else in order to consider the other an outcast. The slightest difference in personalities can trigger the stereotypes in one’s mind into classifying another as an outcast, although the term “outcast” may not be used. People view outsiders through the outlooks they have been raised with. Outsiders are only those whose personality and being causes one to differentiate himself from another, no matter how big or small the difference.