Time to Intern

As we approach internship, some questions I have in my mind are:  "What software and equipment will we be using?", "What's next?"  I hope I will be able to absorb as much information and experience as possible as I go to my internship.  I am excited to go intern but, I am also nervous at the same time.  This intern will affect my life by a great amount.  It won't set it, but it will definitely affect it.  It feels like a gamble going into internship.  I (still) have no clue where I am going to. I don't know who I will meet.  I'm not sure what will happen after the internship.  There are two vague ideas in my head for the future and they are:  Continue going to school, and continue going to school and work at the same time.  I can't see the future, so I do not have a set-in-stone plan about what I will do after internship.  I'm not entirely sure what I will do in the internship, but I know several ideas that I must keep in mind as I intern.  I will work as hard as I can.  I will make a good impression of myself.  I will do what I do best to keep myself happy, and everyone around me happy.

12/30/11 - 12/31/11

To finish of the year of 2011, I played tennis on Friday and stayed at home on Saturday.  Playing tennis with my coach and a few friends was a great way to end the year; especially since I don't see them as much anymore.  On New Year's Eve, I stayed at home and watched the countdown on TV. 

Doesn't seem like I do much on New Year's Eve, but I'm fine with it.  I usually don't do anything special for the coming new year.  I don't even think about it too much; a new year just seems like another day.  I never understood what the big deal of a new year meant and still don't know why.  I guess I'm fine with the way it is.

12/27/11 - 12/28/11

On Tuesday night, Jon and I did an all-nighter playing this new game called Star Wars: The Old Republic.  We had voice-chat over Skype and on Wednesday morning it said our conversation was over 12 hours long.  It was really fun being able to talk to a friend and play a game together.  What made it better was that the game was really good and the voice chat quality was good.

So Tuesday became Wednesday and I stayed up until 1 am that Wednesday.  I was fatigued and exhausted but I had to stay awake.  On Wednesday, Jon, Mich, and I hung out.  Mich is back from his University down in L.A. and is visiting.  Wednesday night, my friends and I had a gift exchange.

Those two days were really fun and memorable.  Even though I was tired on Wednesday night (which became Thursday morning), I couldn't sleep for about a full 10 minutes because I was reflecting on the days that have passed.

12/24/11 - 12/25/11

A Phoenix made out of golden spoons

On Christmas Eve, my family and I went out to eat at a buffet.  It was a simple way to celebrate Christmas Eve with just the four of us.  We didn't have gifts for each other or did anything out of the ordinary, but we still had a good time eating out. 

On Christmas Day, my family and I went out to the Global Winter Wonderland event at Santa Clara.  We joined with my sister's boyfriend and his family.  It was an "okay" event for me.  The event showed a bunch of lit-up structures such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Eiffel Tower.  We took pictures and had a good time.  For some strange reason, my parents walked fast and they usually do not walk fast at events like these.  Later on, I found out that my father was "cold."  Ironically, he was the one who told all of us to dress warm.

Overall, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were nice and relaxing days.

Internship Readiness

The qualities of someone who is internship ready are:  Having good grades in both Tech and BC; have a good amount of contract points (or shown improvement); overall attitude, behaviors, and interaction with colleagues and staff.  I think those are the minimum requirements of an internship-ready person.

I plan to demonstrate internship readiness during module three by staying consistent.  By staying consistent, I will prove that I can perform at a certain level and be able to follow through with it.  I have set the bar for myself very high and I must keep it that way or make the bar higher.  I will continue to be infraction-free, show up everyday, do all the work, and stay positive.  Basically, I need to do everything I am already doing.

I'm not sure if I need to make many changes to show I am intern-ready.  One change I can definitely improve on is to simply talk to people.  Complimenting people is part of the social skill I am working on and I have started to compliment people.  I can talk to my fellow colleagues and some staff members.  I hope to be able to speak even better and be able to speak to anyone and be able to do it well as the module progresses.  The mindset I have set for myself has been working and it needs to be the same throughout Year Up and throughout my entire life.  My mindset is to persevere and to ask a simple question: "What's next?"

Best and Worst Work Experience

The best volunteer job I've ever had was volunteering for this fashion show called Macy's Passport.  I was 14 years old, and was in the SFPAL (San Francisco Police Academy League) during this time.  It was like a free show for the Cadets that showed up.  During the start of the event, we, the Cadets, directed people to go where they need to go to.  At the end of the event, we directed people where to go as well.  After finishing directing people where to go during the start of the event, we got to check out the event and watch the show as well.  It's like those police officers who do security detail at baseball games; they get to hang out, watch the game, and get paid at the same time.

Ironically, Macy's Passport was also my worst volunteer job experience.  When I was 15, we went back to volunteer for Macy's Passport once again.  This time we showed up and did the same work at the start of the event, but we eventually got kicked out after that.  We were invited to volunteer that year, but the event planner kicked us out for some reason.  We did nothing out of the ordinary, but there was something going on with the event planner and she no longer needed our help.  She required us to leave the event.  This is the worst experience I've ever had because it was a waste of time.  It's also disrespectful.  It's like calling someone and saying "I've got nothing to say." and hang up.

Greece's economic crisis makes the U.S. recession look "ok"

Greece is in an economic crisis right now because they were hit hard from the global economic recession which started back in 2007.  Tourism and shipping were Greece's two largest industries which lost a lot of revenue because of the global recession.  This led to Greece going through four austerity phases within the last two years in an attempt to solve their economic crisis.  Austerity is a policy to spend less, cut services, and cut benefits.  Greece's economy was growing exponentially from the years of 2000-2007.  Greece's economy is bringing the Euro currency's value down with them.  This economic crisis has brought Greece's citizens to constant riots and protests throughout 2010 and 2011.  An example of one of the protests is the recent one at November 17th, 2011.  28,000 people took part in the protest and 7,000 officers were monitoring the crowd.  The protests are so violent and chaotic, police officers use tear gas, stun grenades, and riot gear to disrupt the crowd. (http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-11-17/business/30418829_1_riot-police-thessaloniki-greece)

I keep comparing and thinking about our "Occupy" protests.  If our economy becomes as awful as Greece's, I can actually imagine how our riots and protests will be; just as chaotic as Greece's protests, or worse.  It's a terrible way to think about it that way, but I'm just being realistic.  If the U.S. was 18% unemployed, lost benefits (such as insurance), had extra salary cuts, and lost more public services, then there will be an uproar.  Our "Occupy" protests are like a baby version of Greece's protests, but can become as monstrous as Greece's protests. 

Greece's economic crisis must be seen and learned from. 
 
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_debt_crisis
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-11-17/business/30418829_1_riot-police-thessaloniki-greece/2
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-19/news/29676026_1_protest-austerity-prime-minister-george-papandreou-greece
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austerity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932011_Greek_protests
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late-2000s_financial_crisis