Internship!

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7 cups of tea, adolescent psychology, business, business class, capstone, college, college graduation, criminology, emotional support, end of college, essays, field experience, finance, finance class, graduating, graduation, internship, mental support, papers, personal finance, personal money management, photography, photography class, photoshop, photoshopped pictures, psychology, research, research paper, spring semester, studying, summer classes, university, writing

It’s so hard to believe that this semester (MY LAST FULL TERM SEMESTER OF COLLEGE) is almost over. Just one more class in the summer and then I am done!! I never thought I would get there when I started college, yet here I am 4 years later and just a few weeks away from applying for graduation. It feels so surreal. I’m definitely ready to finish college and graduate, but I’m also scared. School is all I’ve known since I was 5 years old. I’ve been in school almost everyday for the past 17 years and that’s all about to change soon. I’m going to be in a different world than what I know and am comfortable with. Graduating and working in my field is going to require me to get out of my comfort zone, which I’ve never been good at…or comfortable with, obviously. But I need to. I don’t have a choice.

Fortunately, I’ve already started that. For the past year, I’ve been looking like crazy for any internships or jobs I can do in my field until I graduate, so that I’ll have at least some experience when I apply for post-graduation jobs. Even if it’s just a few months’ worth. After much searching, I finally found one!

I applied a couple weeks ago for an internship at 7 Cups of Tea, an organization that gives people emotional support when they’re going through hard times. It’s similar to a hotline, but not that extreme. I love it so far – and I’ve received all positive reviews from the people I’ve talked to, which is a really good feeling. Even though it can be tiring, depending on the conversations and how many hours you do this everyday, it’s really rewarding. I definitely picked the right major and the right internship. I’m proud of myself 🙂

I’m still doing well in my classes. My grades dropped a little bit due to the stress and the course load, but I brought them back up and could not be more relieved. Finance is a hard class! I originally thought about majoring in business, and boy am I glad I didn’t now. It’s difficult for me and it’s not my thing. What I do love about it, though, is how much I’m learning about personal money management (it covers everything you can think of in personal finances) before I move out on my own. It’s made me feel so much more calm and relaxed about how to handle money on my own and how things like credit, mortgages, premiums, etc. all work.

But the rest of my classes are going really well. Still loving Criminology. I’ll admit, though, it’s made me a tiny bit paranoid about my surroundings whenever I leave the house haha…not gonna lie – though it’s had same effect on others I know who took the class, so that makes me feel better 😛

Photography is still super fun and I’ve learned so much in Photoshop. I have to make movie posters for my next assignment, which is fun to work on. I’ll have to post them when I’m done 🙂 Here are the Photoshop pictures I’ve done so far that I like (you can make them bigger if you click on them):

For Capstone (I love saying that!), I’m writing a 7-10 page research paper. The topic is sad, so I won’t bring that up, but it’s really interesting. Lastly, Adolescent Psychology is still, by far, one of the most interesting classes I’ve ever taken. So yes, I’m still loving this semester (except for finance) 🙂

Almost there!!

Dance Compilation Guaranteed to Make You Smile

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dance, dancing, developmental disorders, down syndrome, genetic disorders, happy, intellectual disorders, mental disorders, pharrell williams

This video just made my day! Yesterday, March 21, was World Down Syndrome Day. In honor of that, some people got together and made a dancing compilation of people with Down Syndrome, ranging from babies to adults. It was the cutest, sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.

I really want to work with people with Down Syndrome more than anything once I finish my degree and get into case management. They seem like they’d be such a joy to be around and to get to know. They’re always smiling, they’re so sweet, and they’re so cute. This video just made me love them even more.

So take a few minutes and watch the video linked below! It’s guaranteed to make you smile 🙂

HAPPY World Down Syndrome Day

Should “fat-shaming” on TV be illegal?

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barbara walters, body image, calling someone fat, celebrities, celebs, cigarettes, cuss words, eating disorders, fat, fat-shaming, fitness, health, healthy, influence, interview, jennifer lawrence, jlaw, lifestyle, media, movies, self-esteem, sex, teen boys, teen girls, teenage boys, teenage girls, teenagers, teens, tv, women, young women, younger generations

I’m sure many of you have read one of the many articles published in the last 2 days about Jennifer Lawrence’s opinion of ‘fat-shaming’, so to speak. Barbara Walters interviewed Lawrence this past week and asked her opinion on the criticism people, specifically women, receive on the red carpet. Lawrence replied that it should be “illegal to call someone fat on TV.” She states that because of the media’s strong influence on young girls, and the younger generation in general, it needs to be more responsible with the way it talks about women on the red carpet.

Young girls and boys alike learn a lot from the media: how to dress, how to act, how to talk, and how to be in general. It teaches them what’s in and what’s not, what’s cool and what’s lame, what’s sexy and what’s unsexy, and so on. Lawrence is right about the media, that it needs to take more responsibility for its influence on young girls and boys. Kids, and even teens, repeat what they see and hear on TV. If they’re constantly hearing the media fat-shame people and speak so negatively about people’s bodies, they’re going to learn to do that themselves. And I think that’s a big contribution to bullying as well.

Lawrence explains that calling someone fat is a way to hurt that person, not just stating a fact – sometimes, or most of the time when it comes to the media itself, that person isn’t even fat. Lawrence has even been called fat by the media. She’s nowhere near it! She has curves and is proud of them. She refuses to change her body and become stick-thin for a movie role, and I admire her for that.

The media puts way too much pressure on young girls to be thin, and puts way too much emphasis on weight. Because the media is so influential, it should be using that influence to promote healthiness and living a healthy lifestyle, not being stick-thin. Not to mention the fact that the media is never satisfied: Women are either too fat or too skinny. They’re never “just right.” And that’s because there is no such thing as “just right.”

She’s right that if we’re regulating “cigarettes and sex and cuss words because of the effect they have on our younger generation,” then we should regulate calling people fat as well. Cigarettes kill, and hurt others around the smoker. Sex often leads to teen pregnancies and STD’s, even if the teens are careful. Cuss words are used way too often among teens and kids, (partly) because it’s used all over TV and in movies (and I’m even hearing them in commercials now). Well the media constantly calling people fat affects teens and kids too: Eating disorders. ED’s kill if they’re untreated, and sometimes even when they are treated, unfortunately. Fat-shaming has become a serious problem, and something needs to be done about it.

Now, what I don’t agree with is Lawrence saying that calling someone fat on TV should be illegal. I don’t think that will ever be illegal because fat is not a cuss word, and we do have freedom of speech. But I do agree that it should be regulated. Now how that will go about being regulated, I have no idea. But I agree with her on that.

What do you think? Should calling someone fat on TV be illegal? Or at least regulated?

Mental Health Awareness Week

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awareness, depression, emotional disorders, illness, mental disorders, mental health, mental health awareness, mental health issues, mental illness, NAMI, october, stigma

I wanted to make another post today because today marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Week here in the U.S. Not many people pay attention to things like this, and I want to change that: I want to draw attention to it. When it comes to mental health and mental illness, most people don’t give it a second thought. They discard it, like it’s not real or important. When they do pay attention to it, they look down on it. Mental health issues carry stuch a stigma, and that needs to change.

The way I see it, mental health is just as important as physical health, if not more. It’s just as real. Depression and schizophrenia, among countless others, are just as real as diabetes or cancer. Some mental or emotional disorders can even be fatal if they go untreated. People just don’t understand. Some may not really be able to, but I think the majority just don’t want to. And that’s the problem. Those with mental health issues so often get bullied, teased, picked on, abused, taken advantage of, etc., because people don’t even attempt to understand. They look down on those with mental health issues, and treat them as if they’re inferior, because people fear and are intimidated by what they don’t understand.

So this week, try to be and stay aware of those with mental health issues. Try to understand. Be supportive. Reach out to them if you can. Mental and emotional disorders are hard enough to deal with, and not having anyone to talk to or being treated unfairly because of them doesn’t help – it makes it worse. Be aware. Learn about it. If you know someone who’s struggling, offer a helping hand, figuratively speaking. We need to break this stigma that mental health issues have. And the first step is being aware.

Psychopathy in film

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abuse, antisocial, antisocial personality disorder, APD, charming, criminally insane, drew peterson, lack of empathy, lack of guilt, lack of remorse, manipulation, mental disorders, murder, personality disorders, psychology, psychopath, psychopathy, serial killers, the stepfather, violence

I watched one of my favorite films on Lifetime yesterday morning called “Drew Peterson: Untouchable.” I don’t know how many of you have seen it, but it’s really good. For those who don’t know, it’s based on a true story about none other than Drew Peterson, who was accused and convicted of killing one of his wives and is suspected in playing a part in the disappearance of his fourth wife as well. Rob Lowe plays Peterson, and boy is he convincing. He played it so well; it actually made me a bit scared of him (Lowe, I mean). He’s very charming and easily lures women in, getting engaged to them very quickly and only stays married to them for a few years before they threaten to leave him and then “disappear” or are found dead.

Kaley Cuoco (Big Bang Theory) plays his fourth wife, Stacey. Peterson is very emotionally, and a bit physically, abusive with his wives. He blames everything on them, justifies every disrespectful act he commits, grabs them forcefully if they try to walk away, accuses them of cheating when they never did, and so on. Even when he’s confronted by the cops and arrested, he seems so at ease. He doesn’t feel guilty about anything because he truly doesn’t believe that he’s done anything wrong whatsoever.

So let’s see, he feels no guilt, he’s never anxious about anything (even jail), he doesn’t treat people fairly, he’s abusive, he’s charming, he’s manipulative, and he doesn’t seem to really love any of the women he’s with. Sounds like a complete psychopath to me. He fits the description perfectly.

Here’s another example: The Stepfather. That film portrays a psychopath really well. Terry O’Quinn plays Henry (the stepfather) in the original and Dylan Walsh plays him in the remake. Like Drew Peterson, Henry is also manipulative, charming, and feels no guilt whatsoever. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a man who lures in widowed/single women with kids and marries them, only to become abusive and eventually kills the mothers and the children. He then moves on to another city or town and does it all over again, though under a new name each time. Sound like a psychopath? Oh yeah. In fact, the movie is also based on a true story, that of John List.

I’ve found psychopaths to be very interesting to learn about and study. They have a disorder known as Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), which psychopath and sociopath are the informal nicknames of. It’s one of the most difficult disorders to treat, because people with APD don’t feel guilt or remorse, meaning that they don’t know right from wrong. If they did, they’d have a moral code, and people with moral codes feel guilty (usually) when they do something wrong or harm others. Someone with APD would have no remorse over hurting someone – or even killing someone.

Now, not all people with APD are criminally insane; not all of them are abusive; not all of them are dangerous. Usually, when we hear someone is a psychopath, we think of someone who is violent, abusive, dangerous, criminal, and willing to kill. That’s how movies portray them. But that’s not so for all of them – probably not even for most of them. A person can have APD and not kill anyone or even harm anyone – they just simply don’t know right from wrong, so they may be rebellious, may mimic others’ emotions (they don’t really feel emotions themselves), may manipulate others with ease, may be overly charming, and so on. They’re not all killers. Personally, I wouldn’t be very afraid if I knew someone who was psychopathic. Most people probably would be, but I’ve done so much research on this disorder and have learned about it so much in my psychology courses (even wrote a long research paper on it), that I understand the difference between someone with APD and a psychopathic killer. Many people debate about whether all people with APD are psychopaths – some think they are, while others think that psychopaths are just the violent, criminally insane people with APD, rather than all people with APD. But I’ll get into that later.

I could go on, but I’ll stop for now. There’s more about APD to come, as well as classic examples and maybe even my theories about them.