In forty years, looking back and telling my grandchildren what I did when I was there age, a prominent theme will be vampires and other mystical beings. Our generation is going to be known for this obsession because of all the movies, television shows, and books were popular during this time revolved around this theme. I feel that the reason that our generation has this interest in the creatures is due to the fact that our generation wants a love that never dies because we see so many divorces going on around us, and the creatures can give us that. So on Thursday November 15th, 2012; just like most girls my age I waited in line to see the premiere of the final installment of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part II.
My friends and I had pre-ordered our tickets and had a countdown going because we could not wait. When arrived we had to wait in line for out theater to be called because if everyone went in at once someone would have gotten hurt. On our way to the back of the line we had to walk around to the back of the building because the line was so long. When our theater was finally called after about a half hour of waiting, we ran to the theater and even when we came so early, all five of us could not get seats together and we had to break up. Once all of the super long commercials and previews were over, the wait was finally over and the whole theater cheered. This is what we have been waiting four books, five years, and five movies later the Saga was finally coming to an end and we were going to be watching the happily ever after unfold.
As the movie started to play I realized that this last movie was better than all of the other movies combined. The movie had followed the book very closely up until the last thirty minutes where the producers and the writer changed the ending. At first I was really upset that they changed the ending because I am a firm believer in that movie producers are given the rights to make the movie just like the book and are not given the right to change it around. For this movie it really did work though. The last thirty minutes were so good that the whole theater was in an uproar, going through an emotional rollercoaster. I cannot wait until the next time I see this movie because I feel that it is only going to get better and better the more times that I see it.

(11/21/12)

Back in October, I wrote about how I was going to see the Dracula ballet. Despite that a few weeks have passed since I saw the ballet, the show is still fresh in my mind; I couldn’t possibly forget all the confusion I suffered from while watching the performance.

It was a Wednesday night and, being the commuter I am, I drove over to Stockton and arrived with only about five minutes to spare before the show began. I parked my car, killed the engine, and hurried to the PAC, optimistic about seeing my first ballet. In all honesty, I felt pretty classy going to see a ballet, even though we don’t live in the seventeenth century anymore. As I entered the PAC, a woman tore my ticket and told me which row my seat was in. It just so happened that I actually had a pretty good seat, that is, if there wasn’t a group of chatterboxes sitting next to me. However, at this point in time, I had no idea how bothersome these forty year old women were going to be.

Just as I sat down, the lights dimmed and a dark, instrumental piece began to play as fog began to creep across the stage. The atmosphere the stage crew set was great. The curtains opened and revealed a man in a vest in front of a backdrop of a desert scene. I was already lost in what was going on. More dancers pranced onto the stage, leaping, twirling, and running in circles as they moved rhythmically to the music. During the whole play, the choreography was simply stunning and I deeply respect those men and women who are so graceful and fluid with their movements, especially in front of a large audience.

As the ballet progressed, my hopes of hearing some voiceover, or some sort of singing, or anything at all that would help me understand the storyline, had swiftly diminished. I was so lost in what was going on in the play that I developed a headache, which doesn’t happen too often. On top of that, the three women who sat to my right wouldn’t stop commenting on the tiny mistakes the dancers had made. Their snarky remarks about how their daughters could do better was starting to make me sick. I was impressed by the array of dancing that was happening on stage, the people behind me were impressed, as were the people in front of me. What made them think it was so bad? The girls who sat to my left were well-behaved, but they were honors students of course. It was painful, in a way, to see the eighteen year old girls to my left act more mature than the forty year old women to my right.

Right as I was about to leave, the ballet took a ten minute break for intermission. I took this time to read the program that I was given when I walked into the PAC. In retrospect, reading this first would have helped me far more than anyone could imagine. I read about what happened and what was going to happen after intermission, which made things a whole lot easier for me once the ballet started again. While the program helped me understand some of what was going on, a lot of it was still fuzzy. After about an hour, the ballet had ended and I left the PAC utterly confused as to what I had just watched. As I said before, the choreography was beautiful and I really enjoyed that aspect, but from a storyline standpoint, it was completely incomprehensible. I’m not sure if I would go and see another ballet, since this one was hard to follow, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a ballet without a plot.

Even though it was a busy day, my mentee and I attended the Celebration of Service very briefly. The event was coordinated by the office of Service Learning and we stopped by and said hello to Daniel as well. I figured, since my mentee would have to do the service learning projects, it would be great if she could meet the man in charge of it all and the man that she has to go to if she has any problems at all. The Celebration of Service was a day dedicated to something that very much sounds like its name: celebrating the service that our fellow classmates and friends have done for the community. Being the part of the honors program, I feel like we can all relate because we each have to do our own service learning project every semester.
I have always been a strong supporter of volunteering and its great to have a day dedicated to celebrating the people who dedicate their time to help out in the world. There was plenty of posters showing different ways that students can get involved. This was great for students who had an interest in dedicating their time to volunteering but wouldn’t know where to begin. Or in some cases, it presented ideas that some students might have never thought of on their own and this way they would get a chance to broaden up their horizons and think of new things they could do to help the community.
Though we stayed for a few minutes, the celebration of service looked like it had a busy crowd going in. After all, being in front of the library right in F-Wing would get a good flow of traffic, meaning more students would be able to take advantage of what the celebration of day of service is about: celebrating people who help their communities while having the opportunity to get involved themselves.

I attended Richard Stockton College’s First Annual Celebration of Service. This event was run by the office of Service-Learning. It was a day to celebrate and recognize the service that is done by our friends, peers, and neighbors. The key word here is recognize. There are so many people doing great things among us and we don’t even realize it. We are so caught up in the busyness of our day that we don’t stop and see how we can lend a hand to help.
There was a plethora of posters and presenters explaining how they give back to the community and how one can join. As we all know, usually service actually helps the person giving, more than the person receiving. As much as we can contribute to a cause, the cause usually contributes much more to us. There was an alternative spring break stand where instead of spending spring break doing whatever it is you might do, you do something to help others. For instance, you might help build homes for the underprivileged and return to school feeling a lot better than you would have if you wasted your spring break on the couch.
All in all Stockton’s Celebration of Service was a great idea to showcase the service that occurs right in our midst. As always the office of Service-Learning did a great job. Although this was only the first Celebration of Service, I know there will be many more to come. P.S. They always have great snacks and giveaways!

(10/24/12)

Life has been super busy as of late. I haven’t had much time to really do anything that isn’t writing papers or dealing with personal issues, so I haven’t gotten around to doing much on campus. This upcoming Wednesday, October 24^th, I’m going to go see the Dracula play, but unfortunately my hard-copy of this blog is due Wednesday, so I can’t really write about something that hasn’t happened yet. With the little free time I have anymore, I have missed the past four meetings of my club due to conjunctivitis, a partner project I had to work on, my father’s birthday, and simply being too stressed out to want to do anything. I hope things start to get less busy for me soon, that way my mental health can increase and I can get back to doing things I want to do instead of things I have to do. Anyways, this blog isn’t about me complaining, this blog is about the blood drive I helped out at back in September.

Previously, I wrote about going to the Get Involved Fair, which I actually attended while I was on my way to the blood drive. After stopping by the fair, I was on my way to Big Blue to go assist at the blood drive. Upon my arrival to the gymnasium, I noticed that there were probably about four or five other Honors students already helping out. I approached them and asked if there was anything I could do to help out and they told me to talk to a woman who was walking around and making sure everything was running smoothly. As they told me this, the woman walked over to check on them and I took the opportunity to ask her if there was anything I could do to help out. Much to my dismay, the woman told me kindly that they already had more aides than they needed, but she sent me over to the snack table anyway where two other Honors students were stationed.

As I approached the refreshment table, I was instructed by an older man, whose name I didn’t catch, to make sure those who had their blood taken came to the table and grabbed something to eat and drink. Practically everyone who got their blood taken knew this without needing the other Honors students or me to tell them what to do, so it was a pretty boring job, to be honest. However, I actually assisted a girl over to a cot when she said she felt lightheaded. I didn’t do anything besides stand there to make sure she was okay. The older man sat with her and talked to her to make sure she didn’t pass out and there was not really much I could do, so I went back over to the table and replenished some snacks and waters to make the table look more appealing. Other than that, I just stood behind the table and made small talk with those who sat on the chair that was opposite the table from me and made sure that they were okay, seeing as there was nothing for me to really do.

All in all, it was an interesting experience despite having so much downtime. When I wasn’t restocking the tables or making sure people were eating snacks and drinking water, I watched the nurses draw blood from those who donated and wished I was capable of donating blood to save a life. It’s amazing to see how many people are willing to help save other people’s lives, even if they’re doing something as simple as donating blood. Someday, I might be able to help people and save lives, though my mind changes weekly about what I want to study in college, and I’ll feel as good about myself as all those people who donated blood did.

I recently got to attend one of Stockton’s Wellness Days. Boy was this a treat. They had posters and presenters on almost every aspect of health you could imagine. I went with one of my friends to survey the event and we were amazed. The whole side of the Campus event room was full of health conscious people!
The main part that I loved was the giveaways. I left almost every station with something in my hand. There was a chiropractor giving out massage hands and awesome wood pens. There was a stand giving out protein shake samples. I even had my blood pressure taken in between! There was also a huge assortment put out by Chartwells with stuffed mushrooms, spinach and artichoke dip, and different salsas.
This was a great way to learn more about caring for our bodies. There was so much useful information at this health fair. I think that it should be mandatory to learn how to take care of our bodies at health fairs like these. This would sure help us stay healthy and save us money on medical bills down the road. Simple life changes can make a big difference in your health. For instance, no more soda!
P.S. I have previously written two blogs about staying fit in college, check them out!

A teacher named Jeremy Newman presented the event I attended. He presented his montage of the Air Victory Museum. The video was fast paced, energetic, and had rocking background music. Somewhat the kind of music you would hear in an 80’s fighting montage. The video contained all aspects of flight from early airplanes, to marine helicopters, all the way to N.A.S.A. videos.
The Air Victory Museum is located in Lumberton, New Jersey. For those not from West Jersey like myself, that is near the Cherry Hill/ Medford area. It is volunteer run mostly by veterans. They are not funded by the state. They run entirely on private donations. If you’re ever in the area, there are tours Wednesday through Saturday, from 10am to 4pm. The tours are fairly inexpensive.
Jeremy Newman was looking for a way to give back to the community and volunteer. He stumbled upon an Air Victory Museum article in the newspaper. He said he loves airplanes, so this was right up his alley. I admire Jeremy’s passion to help others, especially veterans who fought and served for our country. What I learned is there should be more people who are selfless in this aspect to volunteer their time and skills to those who need them.