Last Blog Entry For Class!

For my final assignment I chose to go with Prezi. I chose to do my modules based on Prezi because I find this tool very useful, especially for college students. Even though this website is not a social media site, I thought it would be useful to do the project on it because it is similar in a couple of ways. One similarity is the way that you can share it with friends and with the rest of the world, you can also add people to your presentation. When your video is all done you can even share it and people can comment on it. Most of all many college students use this site for class presentations, just like many young adults use social media sites. Young adults are always looking to use the newest and best sites as they become available. However, it is different in the fact that it is for professional use. Prezi is not a mobile app like other social media sites such as Snapchat or Twitter.

The site itself is really easy to use. For that reason, I knew it would be quick and easy to do a short Screencast about Prezi to introduce everyone to the site. I did not get into much detail with my Screencast video because I wanted to add other tutorials from YouTube to the modules as well. I went through several videos on YouTube looking for the videos that I thought suited best the assignment and used those videos in my final assignment.

Creating a quiz was a little more difficult. It was a little tougher to do because I had no idea what I should put in it. Prezi is simple tool to use, so I found it hard to come up with questions that would be challenging for students to answer. I did manage to get a few ideas at the end although it was only a six question quiz.

This was supposed to be a group project so I messaged people who were supposed to be in my group. However, I only ended up with one partner because the two others had already completed the project on their own. This was fine by me and worked very well in the end. We divided the work between the both of us. My partner created an assignment and a discussion, and I created the quiz and inserted the supporting material that we needed to include about the site Prezi. We worked quickly and great together however, we might have finished too quickly because we made a few mistakes and forgot to include a few things. Even though I watched the video the teacher had provided for us a few times I still managed to miss a few things. Perhaps it was because it was the last assignment before I went on spring break so I rushed it. However, that is no excuse! I need to really watch what I am doing and pay better attention in the future to instructions.

My heart break, finishing a TV show series

https://toriitea.tumblr.com/post/143392890677/old-immortal-memories-when-your-favourite

Post-series depression

As I sit here writing this blog, I am also watching the final episode of the TV show series “The Office”. I have to say, I am feeling a bit conflicted. I had been binging on this show for about a little over a month and to say goodbye to it is a little sad. I actually find myself in this situation a lot. After I finish any TV series or anime I find myself lost and alone. Of course I’m being dramatic but it is still a bittersweet situation. The urban dictionary calls this state “Post-Series Depression”.

Why do we miss these shows so much?

You watch a few episodes and suddenly you find yourself invested in love triangles, story plots, and character development. you spent so much time watching these fake lives go on. Maybe it is that you find a character that you find relatable so you cling to their story line. Perhaps you fall in love with a character that is nothing like you, but you keep watching because they inspire you.  Seeing these characters fall in love, get married, have children, and even die takes you on an emotional roller coaster. I remember crying on a few episodes on Greys Anatomy. That show shows no mercy! I remember watching the anime series Naruto and being so proud of him. He isn’t a real character but I was so proud of all that he accomplished.

Next time appreciate what you have

I didn’t know how good I had it. When you see a series that has a solid 9 or 10 seasons you figure you have time to enjoy before the heart break creeps up on you. However, all things come to an end. If anything the longer the series the sadder it is when it is all over. May I suggest that we appreciate the show as we watch. Appreciate the gold that writers have gifted upon you and all of the wit the actors put into their acting. It may sound corny but some of these shows really help people out. Whether it be taking us to a fantasy world or showing us that there is a chance at love, these shows inspire us!

How to cope

I love Netflix, but at the same time I hate it because I become addicted to so many great shows that all eventually end. Resulting in my heart break. So what can we do to cope with the loss of our favorite shows?  When our favorite characters seize to exist? We can move on, remember the good times and perhaps give Netflix a break. Maybe some fresh air would do us some good, and help us forget the pain.

Then again, we can also click on the next series on Netflix and start the whole process of falling in love with the show then being heart broken when it ends all over again. Honestly, that’s what I do. Bates Motel, here I come!

Fun time at EPCON 2016

For my next blog I really wanted to talk about my experience at El Paso Comic Con, or “EPCON”. I had such a great time and I enjoyed talking to people about my experience.

Photo from EPCON's Facebook page

The only other comic con I have been able to attend was El Paso Comic Con in 2013. I have to say that this year’s EPCON was a much better convention all around. I would like to be able to attend a lot more around the country; however, they can get quite pricey sometimes and I am always out of cash. I often find myself looking up people’s vlogs on YouTube about them attending different comic cons. I may not be able to afford tickets for different cons, but I can still look them up on YouTube.

This year I was able to go to the convention on two different days. On Friday I helped out an old high school friend at his booth. He wrote and self-published 3 books, he was trying to get the word out there through the convention. So I had a great time helping him out and getting a preview of what was to come.

My friend Bryan selling his book series The Old Dominion Journals

 Friday was the first day of the convention and though there wasn’t as much people who attended the convention it was still a good turn out. I was able to talk to a lot of the awesome venders there and check out their nerdy merchandise. Saturday was the day that everyone showed up. When my brother and I showed up to the convention it was jam packed. I remember being in line for a rather long time but I didn’t mind because we were about to see all kinds of cosplays while we waited. For those who don’t know what cosplay is, it is basically people dressed up as their favorite characters from a movie, video game, TV show, anime, or book. So while in line it was neat to see things like a Harley Quinn and a Joker cosplay while waiting in line with batman right behind them (these people didn’t know each other). After my brother and I got our wrist bands we went into the main room. We felt like we were in nerd heaven. There were great vendors, cosplays, and art pieces. Even the batmobile and Adam West made an appearance.  We bought a lot of awesome merchandise, saw breathtaking Star Wars setups, and saw the cutest children in cosplays.

The cutest Rey and Kylo Ren ever!

Sadly, my brother and I weren’t able to finish a cosplay this year. We were actually very disappointed because the other year that we went we had fairly decent cosplays that we created. I feel like going to a comic con in a cosplay completes the experience. Needless to say I am going to start working on a great cosplay for Las Cruces Comic Con in September. Although my brother and I didn’t finish our cosplay we worked together to finish the sword that went along with the cosplay my brother was supposed to be. The swords name is samehada and it is from the anime Naruto. We decided to take it to the convention because we worked hard on it and felt it was the least we could do if we did not go in a costume.

The sword my brother and I made ourselves.

The thing I love most about Comic Cons or any other convention that are similar is the culture, the atmosphere, and the amazing community of people that come out to these type of events. I do not have a lot of friends that are into nerdy things like I am. However, when you go to a convention such as this you have thousands of people who understand you. I feel like there is an atmosphere of excitement and gratitude to see the cosplays. I remember the year I made my brothers cosplay and he went as Hercule from Dragon Ball Z and people were excited to see him. A random fellow came up to him and said “Thank you so much for coming as him man, it looks so cool”. Whenever I saw a cosplay of a character I really loved I would run up to them and ask if I could take a photo with them. These characters are not really people in real life so people like me get excited to see these characters come to life. 

Awesome Spirted Away and Batman cosplays.

Spot on hiccup cosplay from

how to train your dragon.

My favorite video game character Fox McCloud.

Over all I would have to say I had such a great time. In the future I want to go to as many cons as I can, and make as many cosplays as I can. I encourage other people who have always wanted to go to a con to go and check one out. It is so much fun and you would not want to miss out!

The Twitter Assignment

When it was announced that the next assignments in class would be a competition I was excited, being that I am very competitive. The assignment being that we had to get as much Twitter followers as possible within a week. We also had to get more followers than our classmates. The winner received the extra points. I don’t know how well I did compared to the rest of the class, but I feel like I actually didn’t so well. I think part of the reason as to why this happened is because I was fairly new to Twitter. So I feel as if it was hard to build up followers. The reason I say this is because often when someone looks at your account they look at how many followers you have, and what kind of content you put out. If you don’t have a lot of followers, and if you don’t share interesting tweets you aren’t going to get a lot of followers.   

When I started off the assignment I had 22 Twitter followers. By the end of this assignment I had 84 followers. I feel like I could have done better, but at the same time I feel like I tried my best. I thought about strategic ways to try to gain followers. I thought about what kind of followers I wanted, and what would work.

What I ended up doing was following some of my favorite famous Youtubers and commenting on their tweets. I thought that would work, but in reality it did very little. I ended up getting a few followers because of one of my favorite interests, anime. I started following a few fans of the popular anime Naruto. After that the followers came rushing in. However, after I realized what my follower base was I think I tried too hard to win more of those type of people over. I commented on their posts and shared Naruto related vines with hashtags that I thought were related. Even though most of my followers are Naruto pages or fans, I feel like I had a hard time getting those followers.

I realized what I needed to do to get followers, but I realized what I needed to do a bit too late. I realized in the last hour that following everyone would help you get followers because they usually follow back. I also realized that retweeting helps a lot as well. And to be honest, I didn’t even realize all of this. My friend Randy told me all of this information at the last minute, turns out he could have helped me get more followers. #regret

What is funny is that I feel like I got the most likes on my tweets when I wasn’t trying as hard. When I posted for myself, and when I posted my interests I received the best responses. On one of my first posts I retweeted a funny picture of someone trying to hypnotize their crush. I retweeted the gif and titled the post “notice me senpai”. The phrase “notice me senpai” is used a lot in anime. It is used when someone wants a teacher, master, or someone they love to notice them. It is a very well-known meme in the anime community. As soon as I retweeted that, the account that I retweeted the image from retweeted my tweet. I got over 30 likes on it thanks to them. Today I also retweeted a picture of foxes running in the snow. Guess what? Rich Moore liked my retweet. Rich Moore is one of the directors who worked on Zootopia, my recent favorite movie. I guess we both have a love for foxes. Life is funny that way, twitter is funny that way.

The Midnight Surprise

Last night my friend came over around 12:30am so I could bleach and dye her hair, ironically the hair dye was called “After Midnight” Which was a really dark shade of blue #Latenight #Bluehair.

At this time, I heard my dogs barking and going insane. This is around the time my cat usually meows to come inside, so I told my 12-year-old brother to let the cat in.  #Meowmeow

My younger brother closed the door quickly with a shocked expression on his face I asked “Where’s Todd (the cat)?” He said “I don’t know but there is a guy outside.” My brothers have this habit of pulling pranks on me, so naturally I did not believe him, my 20-year-old brother is always telling me that people are outside when there is no one out there.  #Prankster

I called my little brother a liar, but he swore that there was a man outside. My friend didn’t believe him either but she checked outside just in case as she opened the door a man approached the stairs #Strangerdanger #Whodis

We had no idea who this guy was, my friend did all the talking because I was too scared to do it. He was asking for a ride, a phone charger, or for someone to help him with his car. The only ones who were up were two 23-year-old girls and a 12-year-old boy so we didn’t feel comfortable letting him inside to use a charger or make a call. #Awkward

While my friend was talking to the strange man, many thoughts were going through my head. Thoughts such as what should I do should I get my dad should I get a knife, should I call the cops #Paranoia #WhatshouldIdo

I ended up waking my dad up and telling him there was a man that we didn’t know at the door. My dad asked what he wanted and he said his car broke down and he was asking for help. So my dad got up to go see what all the ruckus was about. He went outside to talk to the strange man and came back inside five minutes later for his keys. We asked what happened, he said the guy was just drunk and needed a ride. #Dadtotherescue #Daddyshome #Daduber

My dad was off to give the man a ride. My brother and friend and I said we would give them a time limit of fifteen minutes than we would call the cops. What was going through my mind was that he could be taking my dad to something dangerous, he could turn on my dad. We just weren’t trusting of anybody knocking on our door at this time at night. We are wondering why he did not go to anybody else’s house, why he was so trusting of strangers, and lastly if he actually drunk. The reason my dad gave him a ride was because he said he had felt bad for him because he was a young guy, he didn’t want to call the cops and get him arrested. #Generous #overthinking

My dad ended up getting home safe and sound fairly quickly. We locked the door and went to bed, as I laid in bed with my lights on I couldn’t sleep. Every time I heard a footstep or heard my dogs bark I thought somebody was coming. #nosleep #noonewasthere

Once the morning came I realized that I was being a little dramatic. However, I had been watching cannibal and serial killer documentaries lately so my imagination went wild. Still, it could have had been a dangerous situation, so I don’t want my dad giving strangers rides anymore. Maybe I just worry too much. #worrywart #THEend #callmecrazy #documentaries

Why I Use Facebook vs Why I Use Periscope

Facebook and Periscope are both social media sites. However, that is where the similarities end. Facebook is more about connecting with people you know. It is about messaging friends, posting thoughts, and sharing family photos. We can see what our childhood friends are up to, or if our crush is single or not. Periscope, on the other hand is about connecting with complete strangers. One person records themselves doing whatever it is they want to do. People from around the world can choose to click on the video and leave comments that last 3 seconds long, or they can press the screen to leave hearts.

I recently got into this site called Periscope. I only signed up for an account with Periscope to see one video. However, once on there I actually found the site very entertaining, and if the right people are on, very addicting. I wasn’t able to fall asleep one night and watched a few of the people’s Periscope ideas out of curiosity. The first video I clicked on was a man from England taking his dog for a morning walk. People that saw the video also got to see the sunrise live as he saw it. I found it to be super interesting, not only to see how another person stared their day but it was also, lovely to see some landmarks and parts of England live. The second video I clicked on was a guy drawing silly pictures. If we commented our names he would draw a face that he though went with the face. The commentary he gave while drawing and the music he had playing in the background made it a very entertaining and a funny stream to watch. The third video was of a lady from Brussels. She was Pericoping live from the airport that was attacked. She showed the viewers as she and a group of people rushed out of the airport. Of course we didn’t see the actual attack as it happened live, but viewers of this lady’s periscope that day saw part of history happing live.

There are all types of Periscopes, people pulling pranks, people telling jokes, seminars, people’s daily lives, and events they are attending. This is a very different form Facebook in the way that you are connecting with strangers. I think it is curios how others live their lives or what is happing somewhere else that makes this sight interesting. On this sight there was also a lot of people doing Q’ & A’s. One man titled his Periscope “what it is like to be black in Japan”, and another titled his “Ask me questions, I’m Muslim and live in Palestine”. I watched both for a while and they were very interesting, and through this site you can ask the type of questions you always wanted to know.

Facebook on the other hand, is completely different. I use this site to see what my friends who moved far away are doing. I have friends Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Malaysia, so I find Facebook most useful when trying to connect with them. I also share funny pictures and videos with my family and friends through Facebook all the time, it really catches my attention. I find Facebook very addicting, and although I don’t use it as much as I used to I still love logging on to see what everyone is sharing. I find that Facebook used to be more about sharing your thoughts. Now it's slowly moving throwers sharing other people’s photos or memes. However, what keeps me coming back is the hope that I see some exciting news from one of my friend’s posts. Like last week my friend posted that the baby she was having was a girl through Facebook and it was so sweet to see all of the love she received through the comment section.

The Social Network Assignment Collaboration.

By Delyla Alvarado, Briana Escajeda, Jocelyn Pallares, and Victoria Gonzalez.

Zuckerberg’s role in relation to his Harvard peers, especially cultural differences between the he and Eduardo Severin, Sean Parker, and the Winkelvosses.

Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and CEO of Facebook. Mark created Facebook who also shared his idea with Eduardo Severin. Eduardo is Mark's best friend, as well business partners. Zuckerberg and Eduardo were nerds and hardly went out as much. They really didn't have anything in common, Mark Zuckerberg was the jerk of the film he didn’t care what he had to do to get what he needed. Eduardo in the other hand was more of the ethical type he cared about himself but also about his friend Mark. He had morals. Mark was very intelligent and had ideas left and right popping into his head, while Eduardo had the money. Eduardo no longer works with Facebook and ends up suing Mark Zuckerberg. Another person who plays an important role to Facebook is Sean Parker, who eventually becomes the company’s founding president. Sean has a big ego and Mark likes the confidence he has and basically he falls for his input. On the other hand, Eduardo didn't like or trust that guy he questions his motives of joining the Facebook establishment. Not many communication goes on between Eduardo and Sean. In the film we see he had big parting ways which contributing to him leaving the Facebook company for being arrested on drug charges which have never been proven to be true but he left. The Winkelovess brothers were the initial ones who thought of the social networking site Connectu. They came to Mark Zuckerberg to help create the site Connectu, which Mark initially stole the idea and created his own very successful social media site. The Winkelovess had no communication with Mark, resulting for the twins to despise him. They later on settled on 65 million dollars. Facebook has a lot of history and who knew Mark would get into so much trouble by creating someone else’s initial idea.  Even with different backgrounds they have a successful social site.  Opposites attracted and get along. The site now has more than twelve years of being successful with no crashes or bugs and has maintain to protect the person's page and significant privacy settings.

Venture Capitalists and their role in the creation of Facebook?

Venture capitalist are investors or people who provide capital to start ventures. They normally support small companies they believe will be successful such as Marks company or for instance ConnectU to get a profit when they finally go viral. Eduardo is a huge part in the creation of Facebook by simply just handing the money over to Mark to help get started and move the company over to California. Facebook has been successful since February 4, 2004, twelve years now. Mark Zuckerberg is making money even if Facebook is at its best or its worst. He has made millions in venture capital that people give his company to gain success. Eduardo’s money helped the company stay afloat for a long time because it was able to hire new coders, new equipment so that the site would never crash. It was highly important to Zuckerberg that Facebook never crashed because he wanted a quality site, he claimed it was what differentiated their site from others. Eduardo went to New York to find investors for Facebook because the company was getting very big in a short amount of time. Eduardo was not able to financially support the company all by himself, so this is why he had to go do some networking. The company caught its huge break when Peter Thiel made an angel investment of half a million dollars. An angel investor is not usually part of the company but provides financial backing for a small business. So Eduardo was not an angel investor because he was a part of the company. Peter Thiel’s angel investment helped launch the company even further. Thiel set Facebook up with and office and helped get the company get reincorporated. However, once Eduardo signed papers leaving him with little to no ownership of the company the company lost its first and most important venture capitalist. This also hurt the company because now not only was the Winklevosses suing Zuckerberg for millions, but now so was Eduardo. This took a huge toll on the company, the Winklevosses were received a settlement of 65 million dollars. It is not known how much Eduardo received in the settlement but the friendship between himself and Zuckerberg was never the same again. Nevertheless, the rewards seem to outweigh the costs because now Facebook is now occupying billions of active users every day, and is worth 100 billion dollars according to Tim Worstall (2015). 

Gender relationships, particularly the way the main characters interact with women and what role that had in the creation of Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg undermines women from the beginning. In the film they depict Mark as having a hard time after his breakup. Not knowing how to deal with his emotions he got drunk and went to the internet. Blogging and then creating a site that compares local university girls with each other. Zuckerberg exposes many secrets of his ex-girlfriend, whether they were true or not. Even to the extent of calling her inappropriate names on the internet, which immediately gets many people’s attention. This was unfortunate for his ex-girlfriend, since he sabotages her life within a matter of minutes, but this was very fortunate for Zuckerberg since that gave him the motivation to make Facebook big hit. He did this so he could feel someone, someone girls would want to be with, Zuckerberg wanted to be the big shot and create the next big thing. The fact that a simple post attracted an audience Zuckerberg knew this was a great idea. By posting a comparison picture and asking for others to choose a picture got 22,000 hits in two hours. By exposing woman in the way that he did, embarrassing them and his girlfriend, he was able to capture attention and momentum for his next big project, being Facebook. Each time that Mark and Eduardo had an encounter with women, or the subject of women came up, a new concept was added to improve Facebook. Such as the idea of identifying whether someone relationship status as single, married, or in a relationship. Mark knew this would be a great deal to incorporate into Facebook to attract members of both sexes. This was part of the, “college” experience that Zuckerberg was trying to implement on Facebook.

Every time Mark and Eduardo had an encounter with women it gave him new ideas. Zuckerberg stated that, “The website would never be finished, just like fashion. There are always innovative ways to enhance the site”. Adding pictures, profiles, and messages is what the site needed to attract people without it feeling like a dating site, but instead a “cool place to hangout online”. Initially “The Facebook” was just for college student’s. Then of course because of the amount of users made up of only college students, led to the expansion of making it a public social network. Being a jerk to his ex-girlfriend online, while intoxicated, had a major role in the creation of Facebook.

Zuckerberg's attitude towards exclusivity of networks (Open or Closed).

Mark Zuckerberg was a natural when it came to creating websites, people found the sites he made entertaining and addicting to be on. The Winklevosses brothers took notice at his talent and realized that their website idea needed a mind like Zuckerberg’s to make “The Facebook” a big hit. When the Winklevosses presented the idea to the idea to Mark the explained the website as being exclusive to Harvard students. The Winklevosses revolved their idea around females, they believed girls would want to talk to men of prestige and that is what would bring people to the site. Zuckerberg loved the idea of exclusivity, and that is why he jumped on the opportunity to work on “The Facebook”. However, Zuckerberg took this idea to another level. Mark liked the idea that you had to know the other person to send a friend request, he wanted quality. This is what separated Facebook from Myspace or Friendster. Facebook was supposed to be more than a yearbook. Facebook let friends know if their friends were single, what they were doing for spring break, and what they were thinking. It was the next big hit. The smartest move Zuckerberg made was slowly expanding to schools so that they could use Facebook as well. Then eventually everyone was able to use it. Facebook was no longer exclusive to Ivy League schools, but the concept Zuckerberg had in mind would be. The Winklevosses had the idea to make a site exclusive to Harvard students, which led to the controversy because Mark Zuckerberg did use this idea, however he expanded on it. In fact, Zuckerberg expanded all over the world and now we see users as far as India, Malaysia, and Nigeria. So although the exclusivity is not what it used to be, the concept of adding your friends, and putting up your own information for them to see is still very present. As Zuckerberg said in the movie “People want to go on the internet and check out their friends so why not build a website that offers that. Friends, profiles, pictures, why not offer that? Whatever you can visit, browse around, maybe it was just somebody you met at a party.” This is the exclusivity Mark wanted, he wanted to put the experience of college and making it a social network. Whether it be for networking, friendships, work, school, or romantic purposes. You would be able to deny or request whoever you wanted on your own account. Mark described this exclusivity as being a final club, and the user is the “President”.

References

Fincher, D. (Director). (2010). The social network [Motion picture on laser disc]. United States: Sony.

Worstall, T. (2015, January 23). Is Facebook Worth $8 Billon, $100, or $800 Billion to the US Economy? [Editorial]. Forbes.com. Retrieved from   Retrieved from                                         http//www.forbes.com/sites/ timworstall/2015/1/23/is-facebook-worth-8-b illion-100-billion -or- 800-billion-to-the-us-economy/#6f145c4f2d75

Tags:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/113590169448830365948

https://plus.google.com/u/0/116906002616754387124

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108408403616532462643

The broke spring break!

A funny picture I came across though Facebook

This spring break I didn't travel anywhere, so I sat back and watched the pictures of my friends that travel flood in through Facebook. However, I can’t complain too much this year because the reason I couldn’t travel is because I recently bought a brand new car. Honestly, I am glad I bought the car because my previous car was always breaking down. I was never able to hang out with friends because I was scared I would get stuck on the freeway. Luckily the week before spring break I bought the new car. Unfortunately, the week of spring break I got sick. Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly the best spring break I’ve ever had. For the majority of my spring break I laid in bed feeling ill. If I felt a little better, I colored inside of my adult coloring book. I know that sounds pathetic but then again I was sick and I did not have money this spring break, so I had to deal with it.

If anything I would say the highlight of my spring break definitely has to be attending my friend’s wedding. The wedding happened the day spring break started and before I got sick. I met the couple while on a mission trip and we all became great friends after that. And this was the year they got married. I was very excited for them and even though it wasn’t my wedding I counted down the days because I was so excited! When the wedding finally came which was during spring break, I was eager to dance and have a great time. The wedding ended up being one of the best weddings I had ever been to. I laughed, I cried, and I danced more than I have ever danced before. I knew I would because the rest of the group from the mission trip was also invited.

A fun picture from the wedding

Life is funny that way. Before the mission trip I feel like I had little to no friends. After the trip I came back with 20 solid friendships. I am so grateful to have these amazing people in my life. Sometimes people come into your life that are more encouraging and supportive than family is. That is what these people have become to me, my second family. I knew that the wedding would be a blast with them there because they make everything a blast! We danced to 80’s music until they kicked us out. We took more pictures than all of the professional photographers there, we ate to our hearts content. And most importantly we were able to be a part of our two friends very special day. They were so in love, watching them say their vows to each other was beyond beautiful. Although I was sick and I didn’t get to travel to LA or anywhere else for that matter, I was able to buy a new car, and more importantly I was able to spend time with some of the best people on Earth.

My awesome friends on my last day of spring break

Growing up with three brothers

4  year old picture of my brothers and

 

 Being the oldest sibling to three brothers I can be considered the “bossy one”. Everyone has a different experience with their siblings. I can honestly say so far, I have had a great experience with my brothers.  Even though sometimes I feel like they are extra mean to me specifically. I am glad I have the brothers that I have. They are the best people I know and I am glad I am stuck with them.

 

Being the only girl also affects how we interact. Most of the time they are wrestling, being like a second mom to them I find myself yelling at them to cut it out. I would like to say I tell them to stop because I’m concerned for their safety. In reality I nag them because I am trying to watch Greys Anatomy and they are too loud. With boys you also fart jokes, video games, and food wars. With my brothers in particular we are big video game nerds. We grew up on Pokémon and Mario Kars. My brothers weren’t into sports like other guys are. So when the other cousins were outside playing football, we were inside playing Super Smash brothers and other fun video games! Being the geeks we were when we were younger we weren’t the most popular kids around. However, when we got older people started to actually like all of the nerdy things that my brothers and I enjoyed growing up. So I really enjoyed that we were able to experience that together. Playing video games with my brothers is also my favorite part of everyday! We have such good clean fun and rarely fight believe it or not. Aside our trash talk that we do to throw the others off from a racing game, we are pretty harmless siblings!

An even older picture of us playing the Nintendo 64! 

 

When you have three boys in the house it is important to be able to keep up and toughen up! If I want food I have to get some before they come along. I jokingly call us all savages when food is around because we fight over every bite. We also only have one restroom so after getting home it is a run to the restroom. Being the only girl I always get to be the one to use it first, score! Another way that I have had to adapt to my brothers is my having to adapt to their sense of humor. Yes, this means fart jokes. Now I find myself being a 23-year-old female who still laughs at fart jokes because it is all I have ever known. This is also why I have more of a man’s type of sense of humor.

These are all aspects of how my brothers have molded the person I am. How I have impacted their lives, or shaped who they are today. Even though I am just the older sister and not their mother, when I am in charge I tend to be extremely strict. I don’t let them watch whatever they want on television, and I make sure they do their chores. I am an education and History Major so I am always telling my brothers about our countries past. I go on about our educational system and about other cultures. I really like to believe that I teach my brothers a few things to some extent. I want them to grow up to be good people, good educated people. What are they like now? I think they are the best siblings any girl could ever ask for.

 

                                                          A funny video of my brothers and I.

Music: Song: You Always Make Me Smile by Kyle Andrews

 

Will I be spanking my future children?





 

 I grew up in an old school Mexican family. My parents were also very strict Christians, because of this my siblings and I were spanked as children; however, we didn’t get spanked very much. I think I was spanked the least. I’d like to believe that this was because I was the best behaved, but it was probably because I was the only girl. Still, growing up spanking was culturally a normal thing to me. However, last week while at the DMV a mother who spanked her child changed the way I looked at the issue of spankings. Actually, it got me to think of the issue. I had never given it much thought. I don’t have children yet and I’m not married, but as I get older I find myself evaluating what morals and what stances I believe in. So when I saw this mother at the DMV pick up her child and take him to the restroom to spank him it really got me thinking.

Here is what happened. The DMV was packed and taking a long time to get to each costumer. A 3-year-old boy was standing on the chair yelling at the top of his lungs trying to get his parents attention. It was a small room so everyone’s ears were ringing. The parents were sitting next to each other, they looked annoyed but they didn’t do anything. It seems to me that they were more annoyed at the fact that the DMV was taking so long. Eventually the mom was embarrassed because people were starting to star at the screaming child. She told him to sit down and be quiet. The little boy was quiet for about 2 minutes then he was at it again. This repeated a few more times. Then finally the mother picked up the child and carried him to the restroom. I knew what that meant. It was a very small DMV so everyone outside the restroom could hear what was happing in the restroom, it was very awkward hearing the spanks and the child cry.

So what’s my stance on spanking? I think the mother handled the situation in the wrong way. I am not a mother so some may say that I don’t have the right to make that call. Honestly I might not, but I am allowed an opinion. I am studying education and worked with children since I was 14. That is my only credibility, but I am still entitled to my opinion and I believe she handled that situation poorly. First off, the whole problem might have been solved if she would have just talked or played with her son while waiting. She was literally just sitting there; I really don’t think playing patty cake or Simon says was going to kill her. Secondly, the husband did no parenting. He didn’t acknowledge that any of it was happening. I believe that strong male role models are important in a child’s life and development. It saddened me that this father showed no interest. Lastly and more importantly, I don’t like that the mother did it at the DMV. It felt like she just spanked her child out of frustration. It didn’t seem like child abuse, honestly it just felt like she was being lazy with her parenting. I don’t believe you should ever spank your child out of anger, or in public. If spanking has to occur, I believe it should be in the privacy of your own home. I know I sound like I am bashing these parents really hard but I was just analyzing the situation, while figuring out what I believe is the right thing to do.

So will I be spanking my  future children? I think so. I know I sound like I am contradicting myself, but I really think it is okay to spank your child if you do it for the right reasons and in the right way. Of course I would need to talk to the father of the child and agree on how to discipline the child because ever going through with a punishment. I think spouses should talk and figure out their disciplinary plan in a calm fashion. When people act out when they are frustrated or angry they don’t always make the best decisions, so it's best to stay calm. I believe if a child can be talked to and reasoned with you should try that approach first. If that doesn’t work than that’s when I think a spanking is okay. If they aren’t able to reason than a negative consequence or a negative action might help children realize that they shouldn’t be acting out in that way. I understand this is a controversial issue, and that I am not qualified to give professional advice on the matter. However, I thought I would throw my two cents in because I would like to look back at this when I have children and see if I still believe the same thing or if I changed my mind.

My vegetarian benefits, and disadvantages

 

            I have been a vegetarian for a little over 6 years now. I guess people think it's difficult because people are always saying “oh, I could never do that. I love my steak to much”. It's a fun little joke I suppose, but in reality being a vegetarian is really not that hard. My brothers often rather eat my vegetarian meals because they look better than their meat filled meals. I think more people should try meatless Mondays more often because it's healthier, cheaper, and sometimes tastier! But I’m not here to try to convert people to vegetarianism. I just want to talk about my experience and shed some light on what it is like being a vegetarian.

 

I wanted to be a vegetarian since I was a child. My mother told me vegetarians ate chicken, so I failed as a child. However, a few years ago I seriously considered becoming a vegetarian. I then became one and never looked backed. I feel like I have been a vegetarian my whole life because when I smell people cooking meat it makes me gag. It used to be that I didn’t support the way slaughtering houses dealt with the animals they slaughtered. I believed if animals have to die because people want to eat them, that the poor creatures could at least be executed humanly. I still believe that today but I also look at the meat people eat as being bloody pieces of flesh and it grosses me out!

Growing up in an old fashioned Mexican family house hold I got a lot of questions and not many of my family members approved. They didn’t even know the facts about vegetarianism but it wasn’t long before they started telling things like “it's not healthy”, and “why do you think God put animals here for?”. My cousins even tried to sneak in meat into my dishes from time to time. I thought that was extremely rude of them to do, and this vegetarian diet wasn’t just a phase for me. Often I see people who are only vegetarians for a year or even a couple of weeks. Which isn’t a bad thing, but my family thought that was going to be me. This vegetarian diet was a lifestyle and not a phase. It was a strong belief system I now lived by, it really upset me that they tried to get me to eat meat by accident because they thought it was “funny”. However, as time passed my family forgot about the fact that I didn’t eat meat and life became easier.

Restaurants are becoming much more vegetarian friendly these days. Still, I have those times that I go out to eat with a group of friends and the restaurants have very little options for a vegetarian. I live in the El Paso TX area, so that means we have a lot of Mexican food, and southern steakhouses. I love Mexican food; I guess because I am Mexican. With Mexican food I have a lot of options in foods I can eat. However, when I have to go to steakhouses with people I am lucky if I find a salad or baked potato that’s not covered in bacon on the menu.

In talking to some male friends of mine, I also discovered something to put on my dating resume. I am a “cheap date”. My male friends said I would be a great date because I wouldn’t ask for expensive dishes like the steak and lobster. They were right, I am a cheap date, I don’t pay very much when I go to restaurants because my salads or French fries are much cheaper than everything else on the menu. Score! Meat is a little pricier, I guess that’s just another cool benefit about being a vegetarian!

Happy Birthday YouTube!

Some people prefer Twitter, some Facebook, others Tumblr. I however, prefer YouTube. Being the long time YouTube user, I have noticed that YouTube like any other social networks has changed dramatically over the years. And yes, YouTube is a social media site. Check out this article by Brafton’s marketing writer Alex Butzbach titled “YouTube overtakes Facebook as the web’s biggest social network”. While some people miss “the old YouTube”, I must say I think it has improved and love what it has become over the years. YouTube started on February 14th, 2005. So today is actually YouTube’s 11th birthday!  The site has come a long way from poor quality 3 minute viral videos. My favorite classic YouTube video was always "Charlie bit my finger".

https://toriitea.tumblr.com/post/139269487932/celebuzz-this-is-what-the-charlie-bit-my-finger

Although on occasion we still get some of those type of videos, YouTube has evolved into something much more advanced. YouTube has created this multimedia platform that is unlike any other of its kind. Unlike sites like Facebook and Twitter, YouTube has its users communicate via video. Although it is usually one person communicating with their viewers via video, the viewer also gets to comment, like, dislike, and share their videos. This makes a very interactive, yet unique social media platform. So instead of the short viral videos we used to get back in the day, we now have famous “Youtubers” or famous “Vloggers”. YouTube’s most popular videos and most subscribed channels belong to those of people who make YouTube videos for a living.

Some of the most famous Youtubers right now

 

Some Youtubers like Shane Dawson upload videos every day. Others upload a new videos every few weeks. Some of my favorite Youtubers are “AmazingPhil”, and “danisnotonfire” as they upload videos every few weeks and it drives me insane! I love their content so much that I get a little impatient waiting for a new video, but I adore them anyway. In their defense a LOT goes into making a YouTube video. Making a video includes brainstorming, the editing, the collaborations, emails, exc. Some of the top subscribed channels included JennaMarbles of the US with 15 million subscribers, and Smosh also from the US with 21 million subscribers. The second most subscribed person in the world is someone who goes by “HolaSoyGerman” with 26 million subscribers. To be honest I’ve only recently hear of this YouTube star HolaSoyGerman. I guess because he is from Chile and I wouldn’t understand what he is saying. However, he most certainly is popular amongst Spanish speaking countries. Of course if we are going to talk about Famous Youtubers we have to bring up the king of all Youtubers, Pewdiepie. Felix Kjellberg, Swedish Youtuber more commonly known as “Pewdiepie” is the most famous and subscribed Youtuber there is. He is most famous for doing "let's play", in which he plays horror games. Pewdiepie blows away his competitors with over 42 million subscribers, no one is even close to that amount of subscribers. I have a lot of favorite Youtubers, and Pewdiepie is one of them. I hardly watch television anymore, but Pewdiepie and the other Youtubers are something I watch on a daily basis.

https://toriitea.tumblr.com/post/139255222212

Pewdiepie doing his signature "Bro fist"

Now the latest thing YouTube has come up with is a thing called YouTube Red. YouTube allows our favorite youtubers to make better content, because of a higher budget and the help of Hollywood. However, YouTube Red must be paid for. In regard to this YouTube is connecting social media platforms with shows and movies. It's almost like Netflix meets Twitter.
Oh YouTube, you sure have changed in these past eleven years. I wonder what the next trend will be after YouTube Red? I have such high hopes for YouTube. I did grow up watching it after all.

YouTube in 2005

YouTube in 2016

On that note I want to leave you with the video that inspired me to do this quick blog. Matthew Patrick, also known as “MatPat” or the “Game Theorist” has made an incredible video describing YouTube then and YouTube now. He is one of my all-time favorite youtubers because he makes such smart videos in such an enjoyable way to watch them. I suggest you watch his video below to get a better understanding of how YouTube has changed over the past several years. He really does a much better job at explaining it than I do. Please watch it, it's amazing!

 

Again happy 11^th birthday YouTube! Thanks for all the great content.

 Check these out!

http://www.brafton.com/news/youtube-overtakes-facebook-webs-biggest-social-network/

https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo_IB5145EVNcf8hw1Kku7w

https://www.youtube.com/user/DanAndPhilGAMES

https://www.youtube.com/user/smosh

https://www.youtube.com/user/zoella280390

https://www.youtube.com/user/JennaMarbles

 

My Kidney Transplant Experience

 

First, I want to inform you that this blog is about my personal experience with dialysis and getting a kidney transplant. I really wanted to write about this so, that it might possibly help someone that is in the same situation. If you have recently been diagnosed with kidney failure and start dialysis soon, I don't mean to scare you on the journey that lays ahead. I just want to be honest about some of the things you might or you will experience. However, everyone is different so, your experience might be different as well.

 

A brief history about me

I am a 23-year-old college student studying education. I grew up generally healthy, or so I thought. So the day I went to the doctor for an annual check up my pressure was really high and I was sent to the hospital for observations. As, I got to the hospital I was put in ICU and after many tests I was told that both of my kidneys were functioning less than 5% percent. The news was a major shock to my life. I was a 16-year-old who went to the doctor for a checkup, one-day snow sledding with my family and the next getting a tube inserted to my chest. For the next few years I felt like a science experiment, tests after tests, scares after scares, bigger needles in my arm every visit. Finally, at 18 years old my mom got the call that there was a match for me and that I would be receiving my lifesaving transplant. 

A random piece of art that I created sums me up



Dialysis

My personal dialysis schedule was going to the center 3 times a week, for 4 hours. Dialysis itself was 4 hours, sometimes I waited at the center for one or two extra hours because the waiting line was so long. Honestly, I am some kind of a weird freak who enjoys needles so dialysis could have been worse for me. Still I got to the bigger sizes of the needles which were the width of a coffee stir, or the width of a headphone socket as before that I had a catheter in my chest. The catheter lead to my heart, and it had two smaller tubes that were length and width of crayons that stuck out of my chest. It was so ugly. When showing I had to cover the catheter to keep it from getting it infected with a gauze and medial tape covered it up. It was so ugly, there was no way I felt pretty or normal during this time period. When people saw the bandage and asked what happened I told them I was shot because I thought it was funny, people actually believed me so I egged them on. The tubes are gone and I no longer have to undergo dialyses. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful I’m alive but honestly I was stuck with the ugliest arm ever to this day and I hate it but the good news for it is a nurse told me recently we can have it flattened, yay! I still have to ask my doctor about this, stay tuned and ill let you know what she has to say about this.

Myself and my dialysis wacky arm

(above picture not my picture, using so you can see size of needles)



How to treat someone with kidney failure?

If you are the one with sucky kidneys surround yourself with friends and laugh as much as possible. That is what got me though everything. A friend once told me “Tori, I think you are faking it. Your awesome, your not sick. So don’t your dare be sad. Just smile okay? Because you are going to be okay”. His words were simple, but honestly they meant everything because he didn’t treat me like I was dying. Don’t give these people with kidney failure your pity because they don’t want it. What they want is to feel normal. So please make them smile and laugh whenever you can, distract them from the fact that they have dialysis the next day.

After the surgery

During the time I needed a transplant there were no transplant services in El Paso TX. So when I got the call that they found a match me and my mother were flown to San Antonio TX to receive my transplant. I was happy about getting a transplant. Then again, I would be lying if I didn’t mention it was one of the hardest moments I ever had to deal with. I thought that everything would go back to normal as soon as I received the kidney. I had to go through so many changes in such a short time. I was fairly thin weighing in at about 105lbs. However, within a week and a half I had gained 40 to 50 pounds. This was due to the amount of water I was required to drink. It was also due to the new medications I was taking. The medication made me extremely hungry and emotional, I was eating 5 times what I was used to. The medication made me grow hair on my face and arms. I had to take about 15 different medications, and I just didn’t feel normal. This was traumatizing for a self-conscious 18-year-old girl.

Just a few weeks after my kidney transplant.

 

Life after kidney transplant

Looking back at it I’m embarrassed at how I reacted back then. I probably also sound really spoiled for complaining about these issues. Believe me I was happy to be given this opportunity. I wasn’t told much about the young lady whose organ I received. I just know she was my age, and the person who received her other kidney was a cute 5-year-old boy. I think about the girl who gave me her organ often. My biggest mission in life is to make sure it doesn’t go to waste. I try to help everyone I can, form the homeless, to the kids I work with, to being the best person I can be. I feel like it's my duty to enjoy life and help people with this new shot at life I received. I wrote about the emotional struggles and physical change because although it is usual for younger people to have kidney failure, it does happen. I looked for a couple blogs on the subject and found out there isn’t much on the subject. I know when I was on dialysis I wondered what life after a kidney transplant would be like. And this is why I wrote this. I wanted to let young ladies who maybe going through the same thing know that even though the process is scary, it gets better. I lost all the weight in a week or two, the hair on face and arms went away too although I still have to take medication for life it's only 3 pills, life has gotten so much better. After your kidney transplant your quality of life will be so much better. For all of you who are awaiting an organ transplant, I am so excited by all of the things you are going to be able to do. You will be able to travel and not worry about dialysis, you will be able to eat a pickle and drink as much water as you’d like. You are going to be able to live the life you wanted once you get that transplant, so please don’t give up! You are going to make it, don’t be sad, please smile because you are going to be okay.




Went through dialysis for 3 years of high school, senior year received my transplant and graduated the same year.