Question #20: What is your most treasured possession?

Looking around my room as I contemplate this question my eyes are instantly drawn to one item, an item that was given to me when I didn't expect anything, something that is cheap in monetary cost while being priceless in the deeper meaning behind it. This wasn't given to me by a family member, nor was it given to me by someone I would necessarily consider a friend, this was given to me by one of the administrative staff at my first ever internship. This item says the following:

NEVER SETTLE DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT

This item has prompted me to write a speech for my graduation and to apply to be one of the student speakers for graduation. Here is what I have written:

I have been at this college for four years now and at the first internship I had when I was completing my first degree from this college, I was given something, a framed poorly printed piece of paper that had a quote on it, this quote being, “Never settle don’t even think about it”. This has stuck with me through my last two years here at this college as it stares me in the face every time, I enter my bedroom and it has served as a reminder. This reminder being that I just like the rest of you have been given an education that will lead me to succeed in my goals for my future. I live by this quote taking it as seriously as I have my education and my involvement in this community of people. Leaving this place, we have been given hands-on experience in our fields of choice and a network of people to rely on. While attending this college we have also been taught our core abilities that have been ingrained in us since day one in each class we have learned to model integrity, to think critically, to communicate effectively and to value diversity. While taking courses here and being a part of this community, I have seen these core abilities be put into practice every day that we’ve gone through to get here, to our graduation day. While leaving this place, we aren’t truly leaving, we’re taking the next step to success whether that be gaining that promotion, entering a new field of professionals, taking up a new career path, whatever the next step is it is accompanied by a place that all of us can return to for guidance. By choosing this college this shows that we haven’t settled, that we are still moving forward and taking steps to be greater than we previously were. Having recognized that each of us are walking away as more skilled workers and I hope in the future that you “Never settle don’t even think about it” because we are the workforce that will push forward and lead our communities into greatness.

I don't believe the person would believe that I took such inspiration from her simple gift.
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What is your most treasured possession?

Question #19: Where would you most like to live?

Growing up I had fallen in love with the idea of living out in the country with no one around for miles on end, to have a place where I could just go outside and not worry about anyone coming up to me. Now that isn't the case, in high school, I was given the opportunity to go travel to New York City and I instantly fell in love with the atmosphere, the people that I traveled with had mixed reviews of that trip. I was one who thrived and just wanted to do everything that I could possibly do to adventure around, I was somewhat reserved with approaching the people though, and that had worked out just fine as no one really approached us and I realized that it was possible to slip into the crowd unnoticed.

Since that trip, I have been given other opportunities to travel to larger cities and explore what they have to offer and I have found myself wanting to live somewhere crowded and congested and surrounded by people. The cities I have visited so far are Boston, Orlando, Dallas, and soon Anaheim all because of one decision to be part of an organization that one of my teachers recommended to me. Having had positive experiences in each of these places, I have found myself setting up plans of moving somewhere with towering buildings and millions of people passing by.

I want to live in a city with great public transportation, many events, and millions of people.
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Where would you most like to live?

Question #18: If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

When this question entered my sights I instantly knew what I would come back as, one of those multi-color pens that has 10 or more different colored inks that can be clicked down separately. Now there is a reason behind this, as there always seems to be with any of these seemingly simple questions. I am a someone who doesn't just want to do only one thing, I want to do everything, that may be why I tend to get overwhelmed.

I have taken to one field of work though, that being business. I still get weird looks when I let people know that I have a degree in accounting when I am currently in marketing as I have been told that they don't fit that well together. I will be able to argue to the accountants of whatever business I am a part of why the budget needs to have a certain amount of money though for marketing, which other marketers may not be able to articulate as well. Even in classes, when I have been taking classes with these people for over a year they still act surprised when I tell them about the fact that I have an accounting degree also as numbers and art apparently don't mix. I've actually even earned myself a nickname, "the special little unicorn" of the marketing program, as I am seen as such an oddity among my peers, this was given to me by one of the instructors within the program.

I also have many other interests, adding to my multi colored world and the reason why I chose the multi-color pen as the thing I would come back as. I enjoy writing, art, exercising, cooking, organizing, reading, researching, going to events, talking to people, volunteering, technology, brainstorming, music, acting, performing, public speaking, budgeting, traveling, and so much more. I am multifaceted just like the multi-colored pen and able to do a menagerie of things.

The multi-colored pen would allow for anyone who uses it to be able to plan and coordinate any of the activities they plan to do while also allowing them to color code the different aspects of their life.
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If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

Question #17: What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Let's define achievement as according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Achievement: Option 2a: a result gained by effort Option 2b: a great or heroic deed Option 3: the quality and quantity of a student's work

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I'm not sure if many would consider this an achievement or even a great one, to me though it stands to show that my efforts don't go unnoticed. Throughout my life, I have taken to helping others grow and achieve what they want to do and this has earned me a reputation at practically every place I have worked or gone to school. This started in elementary school going on into middle school then high school and into now my college career and work and even my unpaid internships and other involvement. It seems as if every corner I turn whether I am at one of those aforementioned places or just out and about that someone knows me for one reason or another even if I may not know them personally.

I have a few stories to do with this reputation that I have built. The one that was most unexpected for me was when I was in a grocery store one day, I was just picking up a few things that I was out of and as I approached the checkout I could hear one of the workers call out my name. I looked up and saw one of my friends from a year ago at the time and was surprised and pleased that she still remembered me as my appearance had changed somewhat since she last saw me, this is something that has been ingrained in me by other people, the expectation that no one will remember me once they are done with me. She proceeded to scan my items as she called out to her two subordinates, she is the manager of the store, that I was the entire reason she was able to graduate from college. Now that was news to me and I couldn't recall a time where I had helped her that much and asked her how I had done that. She responded that I was the only reason she passed her accounting class, now I don't even remember having helped her in her accounting class she needed to take until she started pointing out times that I had forgotten until that point. We were friends I didn't expect helping a friend would garner such praise as she was already highly accomplished and skilled in her field, someone I would want running my business with her fair judgment and calm attitude in most any situation. I left the store and haven't talked to her since as we're both very busy people.

Another time that I realized that a lot of people knew me and wanted to interact with me and rely on me was when I was walking through the front office at my retail job and was stopped by someone who didn't work in my section and who I had only interacted briefly with, in the breakroom. He called out my name and I paused for a moment in surprise and slight shock before asking what he needed, my helpful nature kicking in instantly at his slightly flustered expression, he proceeded to ask me how to do something while a couple of team leads and HR associates were only a few steps away and had been there before I was. I helped me leading him through the steps to do what he wanted before asking if he needed anything else and with a negative response I was off to complete my break before returning to work. This wasn't the first job someone had relied on me over other more qualified individuals before.

I can still remember the frantic phone call as I was just getting home from classes, it was one of my coworkers from my food service job, my first ever job, at the time and she sounded so frazzled as she asked me if I could come in early for my shift to help her out, my instant answer was that yes I would come in and that I would be there in about 20 minutes as I needed to change into my uniform and walk to our workplace which was about a 20 minute casual stroll from my house. Now I can remember the snow and how I trudged through it, at the time I didn't think about it but she should have called the manager to come to help instead of me. When I got there I realized the problem, the morning person did not complete their tasks before leaving for the day, which left us short on a lot of the food prep that should have already been done. I put on my apron after shedding my coat and clocked in to then tell her to go to the back and start more food prep while I took care of the front of the store, knowing for a fact that I was faster than her when it came to preparing food for guests and we still had a few guests to take care of. Once the small rush was done I went back to help her and asked her finally why she hadn't called the manager who was on call for the weekend, her response was one I wouldn't forget, she was too afraid to call the manager to come in as she had called the manager before me and had been told straight out that the manager would not come in and that we needed to fend for ourselves. I was irate as the day continued and told her that I was glad she called me to help. Later that night a team of wrestlers came in from a match before heading home, I knew we wouldn't be able to handle it and decided to call the manager once again to ask for help, I was told that no she would not come in. I was pissed off and decided to call on my other coworkers to see if anyone would be available to come in, no one was, that's when I was going to take it to the next step, I was going to call the owners' son to come in and help as he had told me that he would come in and help if we needed at anytime. In my flustered state I ended up accidentally calling my manager once again and as I answered saying how I knew it wasn't his weekend but that we really needed help I was interrupted by her voice saying that she would come in but if it wasn't as bad as I said it was that she would write up both myself and the other worker. When she came in, it took until 30 minutes to close to get caught up on everything, which was 3 hours after she had come in to help. After that day she tried to turn people against me through passive aggressive notes, the only reason I even found out that she was trying to turn people against me was because my coworkers who I openly helped told me, and I didn't know at the time that I could have reported her for harassment, I did know though that when I got written up for something that I did not do that I was done. I put in my two-week notice and left once the time was up, I also left a note for the owners on how this manager had treated me.

My greatest achievement is having earned a reputation that people can rely on me to get things done and to help as much as I can.
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What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Question #16: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

As previously stated in "Question #3: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?" I find myself to be far too independent in the things that I do. I want to change that, to become more willing to take help rather than only rely on myself, I also want to show others that not always do you have to only depend on yourself.

Today while I was working the front desk for Academic Services at my college I answered a call, it was a distressed student who believed that she would not be able to complete her courses within the allotted time and felt it was better to look for ways to withdraw from her courses rather than look for help. Academic Services provides free tutoring to students and I had told her this and she still didn't want to look into it that way, she just wanted out, she just wanted to give up if she wasn't able to do it on her own. As she refused to take the help that Academic Services offers I gave her over to Academic Advising, I'm not sure what happened after that, I hope she got the help that she wanted.

When I was taking classes last semester I felt like just giving up, letting go and retaking my classes in the future. I wrote out to my teacher that I had felt this way at the end of the semester reflecting on the way I had acted and what I was doing, telling her everything, I even told her that I knew it wasn't the best way to do it and that I wish I would have approached someone for help in the course. In the end, I ended up barely passing her course simply because I missed in the syllabus that she would give 10 extra credit points to any student who didn't use the late assignment pass given at the beginning of the semester. I had forgotten about that pass.

Another thing that happened today was a tutor who works alongside me in the Academic Services lab approached me for my opinion on how to handle something that wasn't happening the way it was supposed to. I gave him my opinion and how to handle it and he thanked me for the answer I gave him before going back to check on someone he had been helping with coursework. I felt that he wasn't necessarily going to be able to give the right words to the student who he was dealing with and took it upon myself to look into the rules more and typed up an email draft to send to him. He had approached the desk at the end of his shift and I was halfway through finishing the draft for him and I let him know what I was doing, he was surprised that I would go that far even though it didn't directly affect me. I let him know that it did, in fact, bother me, I didn't let him know it was because I could tell how distressed he was about what was going on and he was only trying to let that student know that he wouldn't always be there to help if they didn't go through the right steps. He asked me how long I had taken on the draft and I jokingly told him ten minutes which made him fret even more as he told me I shouldn't have even taken five minutes to do it. I don't know how much time I had honestly put into it as I didn't think it mattered how much time it took as long as I helped him. He told me how much he appreciated it that I would go to those lengths and I tried to joke it off as I didn't think I deserved his thanks for doing it, I just wanted to, I finished it and asked him if he wanted me to send it to him. He decided to ask me if I could send it as Academic Services and I told him that I would ask for the student's name once again to make sure it reached the right person before sending it off. He then again began to tell me how much he appreciated it and I told him that it was no problem but that I needed to leave as my shift was over, he had decided to stay and talk to me as I had completed it for thirty minutes after his shift had ended. I'm glad I was able to help him. I hope that in the future if something like this were to happen to me that I would be able to be like him and look for answers to my problems also, I hope that I can be less independent when I need to be.
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If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Motivation

This post came about as I sat on my bed staring at nothing, wanting to do nothing, feeling no motivation at all. Throughout today I had this feeling, I just didn't want to do anything, I lacked the basic motivation I needed to function, I could only do the bare minimum of what I should have been doing. Trying to do anything would end in me getting distracted by every last little thing, even music didn't work to clear my mind and I could hardly remember what I said previously at some points and was unable to recall events that have happened recently. Looking back though I still did get some things accomplished, went to school, finished editing notes from a meeting, created a flyer for a fundraiser taking place next week, corresponded with the marketing director of a non-profit I am helping with an event, I ate two meals, I held a meeting for one of my clubs, I brainstormed with a student about a website plan for my internship, I showered, I put on matching clothes, I told a former teacher that I want to become a marketing director of a non-profit and she encouraged me to pursue it stating that I was probably more qualified than most people my age, I spoke with my two supervisors for my tutoring job, informed a former member of one of the clubs that I run about what is going on in the club, I booked a video recording room at my college to create an introduction video to advertise what I can tutor in, and I am creating this post. Doing this, taking inventory of what I have achieved today, what has happened makes me realize that maybe I am taking on too much since I still think I should do more. It makes me think that maybe I am experiencing burn out.

Motivation is part of what has driven me to the heights I have achieved. Motivation is something that only you yourself can make yourself feel. Motivation has also driven me to experience burn out more often than I would like to admit. There are times that I have lost motivation to do just about anything in life and I hate the feeling and I don't have the knowledge on how to combat it. I want to take time to learn more about mental health and what I can do to not only help myself but others around me also.
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Is there a time in your life where you have felt this way?

Question #15: Which talent would you most like to have?

Talent as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is as follows.

Talent: Option 1a: a special often athletic, creative, or artistic aptitude Option 1b: general intelligence or mental power

Which talent would you most like to have?

When growing up I had been brought to the theater to watch a musical, specifically the Nutcracker. I was instantly enthralled by the many actors and actresses dancing across the stage to the flowing musical pieces throughout. After that in my free time I would dance around the house leaping and trying to imitate their grace, I wasn't the best and had a tendency to run into stationary objects. I liked the art of ballet so much that when I was in the store I kept staring at this DVD set for learning the moves from Swan Lake, another ballet that had caught my attention. My mother had noticed my staring and for my next birthday it was one of the items that I had been given. It became one of the things I looked forward to doing and watching as often as I could. It was one of the few toys I had kept when we had lost our home for the first time and it ended up getting left at the shelter my mother, brother, and I had stayed at, I wasn't sad to part with it as a lot of the other kids had found enjoyment in using it.

I had once expressed my want to learn how to do ballet to one of my grandmothers and her response will forever stick with me, "You're too big to do ballet, that's for skinny girls." This wasn't her first comment about my weight and it definitely wasn't the last. The comments that would slip from her lips only encouraged me more to prove her wrong and show her that I can do anything as long as I put my mind to it. Whenever I could find a large enough space I would take the chance to practice in my own way, teaching myself to be more flexible and elegant. I believe it was this practicing which allowed me to love the feeling of exercising as I would dance until I was either interrupted or panting on the ground out of breath.

As I finish up with college I want to put more time towards learning how to dance even if I may be a little old or not the right shape, I want to learn how to do any and every dance.
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Which talent would you most like to have?

Question #14: When and where were you happiest?

This is going to show how much of an academic nerd I am.

In middle school, I was recommended to take tests to go into a higher level of math class, by a teacher who had only just taken over math for 6th graders for the school year, and I remember being super happy about taking the tests as I had been getting 90% or higher on almost all of the tests I had in my current math class. I got pulled out once a week three weeks in a row to take a test each week to determine the level that I was at for math, each week I would be pulled out of one of my classes to be told the results of the test before being asked if I would like to take another test as I had done well with each one. After the last test, what I had believed to be the last test, I had taken they let me know that I wouldn't be able to advance any further as per the rules of the school, before asking if I would like to take one more test for fun. I decided that I wanted to do it as I felt satisfied with the fact that I had been doing well and wanted to see if I would be able to go any further. The results of that test were revealed to me in the usual way, being asked to leave the classroom during class for a moment, and I was told that I had done well and had passed the test with flying colors. I was then given the choice to either go into PreAlgebra or Algebra, I decided since I had done well enough to be asked to take an extra test that I wanted to go into Algebra for my next year's math class. That was when the teacher revealed that I was the only student who had passed enough tests to go into Algebra out of the six students that were asked to participate in the test taking. That made me immensely happy that I had held that much skill to be able to go that far ahead of the kids my age. I remember having this face-splitting grin as I reentered the classroom to finish out the class period, I was happy beyond imagining.

Going forward this decision affected me in ways I hadn't thought were possible before. This decision allowed me to participate in a project that I ultimately missed the final presentation for because of being hit by a car the day previous. I had argued with my mother to let me go, she wouldn't allow me though and I ultimately ended up sleeping through the presentation because of the pain medication I was given to combat the injuries I had gotten from being hit while crossing the street. This decision also allowed me to be able to take higher levels of math far sooner than my peers which allowed me to realize that my math skills peaked at PreCalculus and Statistics, which then affected the career path that I wanted to take leading to me going into business rather than wildlife biology. I am happy when I think of the changes that this one decision let me come upon in my life and if I were given the chance to go back and change that decision I would not.
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When and where were you happiest?

Question #13: What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Let's define love as according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Love: Option 1a(1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties Option 1a(2): attraction based on sexual desire Option 1a(3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests Option 2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion Option 3a: the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Coming up with an answer to this question was like trying to come up with the answer to what drives me to do what I do, then it hit me. The greatest love of my life is music, it's the one thing I seem to rely on more readily than anything else in my life. I like the music that I like whether that be Kpop, country, rock, heavy metal, alternative, pop, classical, acapella, rap, hip hop, techno, steampunk, and basically anything else that catches my interest. I've utilized music in almost every part of my life and it's the one thing that seems to make me remember that yes I do have emotions and they're very integral in my motives in doing what I do.

My earliest memory that I can recall of music is going to church and singing in the choir with the other children as people would clap along to the music and sing with us. I loved it, I loved the happiness it brought me when I would be praised and have people looking at me, I loved the attention it gave me. It gave me a community of people to grow up with and I still get mail, even as an adult that is no longer active in the church community, about opportunities and activities that are happening and I am happy watching others enjoy what I had in the past. I now look for fulfillment through community involvement and trying to give others opportunities to grow rather than attending church and looking to have some higher entity do something that I can do myself. I respect those with religion in their lives and hope to support them through other means.

Some of my other early memories consist of music classes in elementary school where we would be able to put on concerts for our families and perform. Performing has been a part of my life since very early on and I hope to get back into the performing arts in some capacity as I move on in my life, even if it's just karaoke at a local bar or making YouTube videos in the future of covers of my favorite songs. At one point in my childhood, I had started to write my own songs and perform them when I was alone as I wasn't sure if they were really that great, I still loved to do it though. At another point in my childhood, I had lost my home due to my mother getting laid off at her job as more and more manufacturing jobs were getting pushed overseas, music was what I relied on to get me through that time as I came to terms that the world wasn't all it was cracked up to be, I grew up fast and music became an outlet for my emotions during that time.

In middle school, I had started band class and I began to learn how to play the flute. I continued to learn flute through middle school and into high school, except for one year where I wasn't able to fit band into my class schedule, that was one of the hardest years of my life. I hadn't realized until that year just how integral music was to my life and how much stress relief it gave me to be able to play and play and play until my lungs and fingers finally told me it was time to stop and rest. The year after I got back into band class and even did jazz choir along with it, giving myself even more of an outlet for stress and a way to calm my racing mind in the midst of taking college-level courses to save money on my college education.

While in jazz choir I was given the chance to do a few solos one being during the holiday concert where I was performing not only with the choir but also with the orchestra and band. I can still remember that night and I wouldn't be surprised if several of my peers also remember that night. It was a time in my life where the rug had been pulled out from under me once again, I had lost my home for the second time in my life. That night in between the many parts I participated in I had finally lost my composure and I ended up hiding somewhere I thought no one would find me to just cry and let my emotions run rampant before I went back up on stage. There was one happy memory from that night though, and that was my solo, it didn't have to do with singing perhaps and wasn't planned within the score of music when we were initially given it to practice in class, but it was added after a couple of class periods, I was given the chance to do an evil laugh at the end of "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" and people talked about that portion of the concert for a full week afterward where I had fully let my head tilt back as I did my evilest laugh possible, even people who didn't previously talk to me came up to me to ask how I had done it. That night was bittersweet, it has contributed to who I am today though and I would never trade it in.

Once high school ended, so did my playing of the flute and a lot of my singing, it was time to get serious, no more childish whims such as singing or playing an instrument. My love of music went from playing it and singing it to listening avidly and letting it carry me away. Even now while writing this I am listening to music and I listen to music almost 24/7 even when trying to fall asleep as it soothes my brain and allows me to let go. I listen to music while doing homework, while in class, while I'm working, while I'm cooking, while basically everything and anything I do. In fact when I don't listen to music I feel as if something is missing and can't concentrate, this has led me to buy probably 15 pairs of headphones from the college bookstore while at school whenever I forget a pair, as it is frowned upon to just play music out loud, which I completely understand and not all of my music can be considered safe for work.

I utilize music in different ways, I love it all though and I consider it the greatest love of my life, it's something that has been there through everything and is likely to be there for me in the future.
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What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Unexpected

I want to tell about something that happened to me yesterday, something unexpected.

To give some context, in my college the marketing program prides itself on giving students real-life experiential learning rather than theory learning. In these classes, I had the opportunity to work with another student in the same semester as me on two projects with local businesses one being a research-based project, where we worked with a local whole foods store, and one being an event-based project, where we worked with a local non-profit. Each time I worked with him we had a group that was willing to work together and pull their weight which wasn't always the same for other groups in those courses, meaning that we got lucky. I tended to get assigned tasks that involved utilizing data collection and paper writing as I stepped back to allow for another group member to take the lead role as I didn't necessarily want to since I take on leadership roles in other organizations I am involved in.

This semester our team from the event-based project was invited, by the non-profit we chose to create an event for, to attend a fundraising event to speak on our experience with the non-profit. The only two, out of four that were invited, that decided to go to this event and speak was myself and my teammate who I had previously worked on the research-based project with. We went to the event and as I have previous experience talking in front of a crowd of people I didn't plan anything to say and decided to wing it as soon as I got up on the stage, my partner had decided to prepare and had even compiled a notecard to bring up with him, he decided before we went up that he was not going to utilize it while we were up there. As he had done preparation I decided to let him speak first and cover any spots that he didn't while adding my experiences that differed from his.

Then just yesterday I got an email from this partner asking if I would be interested in participating in an event the non-profit he currently works at is hosting. I didn't believe myself to stand out that much that he would go through steps of approaching his boss with information on me to convince them that I would be a good fit to take a major role in an event that I knew nothing about, to have him take the time to go through that means a lot to me. In the email that I was sent his boss was 'CC'ed to make it official that he had asked me and that final paragraph is what will stand out to me.

"In the past, I have worked with you several times. You have excellent organization, data collection, communication, and Excel skills that lead us to our successes. Therefore, I thought of you for this title. If you are still looking for some volunteer or community service hours I was hoping you could consider being our scorekeeper for our annual ScrabbleBee."

I have finished my required volunteer hours for my classes this semester already, this didn't stop me from accepting as I knew it would have taken him time to get approval from his boss and I didn't want to disappoint him and I am also available for the time slot that this event takes place in. I hope I can fulfill his expectations and be a valuable asset to the event's success.
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Have you had an experience like this?

Question #12: Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Let's define word, phrase, and overuse as according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Word: Option 1a(1): a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use Option 1a(2): the entire set of linguistic forms produced by combining a single base with various inflectional elements without change in the part of speech elements Option 1b(1): a written or printed character or combination of characters representing a spoken word - sometimes used with the first letter of a real or pretended taboo word prefixed as an often humorous euphemism Option 1b(2): any segment of written or printed discourse ordinarily appearing between spaces or between a space and a punctuation mark

Phrase: Option 1a: to express in words or in appropriate or telling terms Option 1b: to designate by a descriptive word or phrase

Overuse: Option 1: to use (something) too much : to use (something) excessively or too frequently

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

With my involvement within Student Government Association (SGA) at my college I had been given the task to come up with a group bonding activity for the SGA team meetings and what had been done in the past is to have one collective question for every person in attendance to answer. I had decided that I didn't like that idea and searched the internet for a list of questions to ask people to get to know them. I found a list of 200 questions and decided that I wanted to utilize them in a way that people would not be able to only choose the questions they want, so I copied the list and printed it onto different colored sheets of paper and cut those questions into slips to be placed in a box for people to draw from at each meeting. The team that I started it with seemed surprised that I would take it that far. I enjoy learning new things about people even if I may not remember it in future meetings with that person.

One day I drew the question "What is your legacy?" I tried to answer it stating that it was my logo designs since I tend to like to do logo designs quite frequently and it doesn't usually take me long to come up with a logo design. That got shut down real quick as one of my fellow team members decided to say that it would be the phrase "I appreciate that" and all variations essentially making me realize that I overuse the word appreciate. Soon after that meeting, I ended up analyzing why I was using that word so regularly and realized that I had ended up switching 'like' with 'appreciate'. I find enjoyment in most everything I do and tend to enjoy when others get excited about things and have found that several people I interact with feel the need to apologize every time they get excited about something and start talking about it for an extended period of time, to show them that I like the fact that they get excited and passionate about things I tend to tell them that "I appreciate that" as to try to help them to feel that it is okay to get excited and passionate about things.

I don't feel that I overuse this phrase, although others may disagree since it's apparently become my catchphrase and people get excited over the fact that I use it so readily.
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Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Question #11: What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Quality is defined as follows according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Quality: Option 1a: peculiar and essential character Option 1b: an inherent feature

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

The quality I like most in a woman is confidence. All throughout my life I have met many women some who were confident in who they were and even more that lacked confidence in most anything they did. Interacting with confident women who know what they want is refreshing and invigorating allowing for a fresh view. Along with that confidence usually, passion plays hand in hand allowing for the best interactions. It's only in recent years where I have seen a lot of women grow more confident in who they are and how they hold themselves. With media being prominent in society it has allowed these women to showcase their confidence in appearing across platforms, taking more leadership roles and taking action to make a better future not only for themselves.

Be confident and let it shine through whatever path you choose.
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What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Question #10: What is the quality you most like in a man?

Quality is defined as follows according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Quality: Option 1a: peculiar and essential character Option 1b: an inherent feature

What is the quality you most like in a man?

The quality I most like in a man is their ability to hold a conversation. I enjoy talking a lot and I would like someone who is able to hold an equal intelligent conversation thus allowing for ideas to be bounced back and forth. Through involvement, I have found several men that can hold conversations quite well and keep one running when I have run out of things to say and I have also found several men that will respond only in one word responses and even worse grunts. Having one-word responses over and over will instantly lose my interest and cause me to shut down or walk away, having long-winded responses with absolutely no point to them will also quickly cause me to shut down or walk away. I am definitely not one for small talk and actually quite dislike it if it has no point.

Keep it interesting and keep it going.
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What is the quality you most like in a man?

Question #9: Which living person do you most despise?

Let's define despise as according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Despise: Option 1: to look down on with contempt or aversion Option 2: to regard as negligible, worthless, or distasteful

Which living person do you most despise?

Currently I don't have anyone that I despise, there is however someone that I have a love/hate feeling toward. About two years ago I was going around to classrooms presenting on an organization that I am part of to try to entice people into joining and experiencing what I love about the organization. One of the classes I was a part of at the time I openly asked the teacher if she would be okay with me speaking on the organization that I am part of and run on the local and state level, she claimed to be okay with it, I had asked before the class was in session, before anyone besides her and I were in the classroom. As I was trying to explain why people should join she openly laughed and told me that none of them would want to join. I clenched my jaw for a moment before trying once again, only to have her make a joke out of my passion. That shut me down and this was during the first class of the semester which lasts for 16-weeks and meets once a week, also the first time I had her for a teacher. For the rest of the semester I only mentioned the organization when it would affect my attendance within the class and since it was a school-sanctioned event she was unable to take away any in class points that may have happened during that absence.

I didn't inform any other teachers or staff of her behavior or approach her about it as I didn't feel it was worth my time to focus any energy on her. Later that day I had a meeting with two of the other local officers of the organization and forewarned them to not approach her about the club as she had treated it disrespectfully and I knew they wouldn't hold their tongues as well as I had. A year passes and I am approaching instructors once again to see if I can present in their classes for recruitment and when we were meeting with one of the staff at the college one of the two officers I had informed about what happened with the teacher decided to tell the staff member, who was shocked at the teacher's behavior. This was before the semester had officially started and when I went into the offending teacher's classroom to attend one of her classes she decided to keep me after class to offer up her help to the organization in any way that she could. This offered help apparently didn't extend very far as further into the school year she openly tried to make my organization look bad in front of another classroom full of students and another teacher. That helping hand was retracted as soon as she felt it necessary.

This is the type of person that I despise, one that laughs at others passions and disregards those people. Passionate people are the ones that are going to go far in this world.
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Which living person do you most despise?

Helping just to Help

This is something that happened to me that I felt like sharing and not addressed within the questions that are lined up.
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While being a part of the Academic Services team I was asked in off hours to come and help a student with an assignment as one of the tutors was leaving and they didn't have anyone that knew enough to be able to complete the task that needed to be done for the student, that is until one of the instructors, who needed to leave to participate in an event taking place that day, spotted me. I was working on my homework adjacent to Academic Services in the Library and was approached to help a student. I decided that helping others was more important than completing my homework. I left my stuff where it was as I was told it would only take a short time to assist the student.

Getting up I went over to help the student with using Excel to create a graph that would showcase information properly to then be used in answering a question for an assignment they were trying to complete. I finished helping the person with their assignment which took longer than expected and even though I had other things I needed to be doing I felt good being able to help that student. I always get this enjoyment out of helping others understand information and how to utilize technology to their advantage. It's one of the reasons why I became a tutor.

That next day I was working at the front desk of Academic Services doing secretarial duties such as scheduling appointments, helping students find tutors, and finishing paperwork that needed to be done along with other miscellaneous tasks. I was in the middle of one of my tasks that I needed to get done when the instructor who had asked me to help a student the day before came up to me and gave me a $5 gift card to the school cafe. I wasn't expecting anything to be given to me for helping someone, it's not how my brain works. She was apparently shocked that I was still assisting the student when she came back about a half an hour later to grab paperwork for the event that she was assisting with and decided to get me the gift card. She expressed that it wasn't much, to me though it meant a lot that she recognized my dedication, I wouldn't have even batted an eyelash if she had done nothing to thank me, again it wasn't on my mind to have a reward for being a nice person.
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Have you ever had a moment like this? A moment where you do something just to help out and not to gain anything?