Student Blog
Me vs. the Gym ⟩
January 30, 2012, by Floyd
So this is it. It’s time to get back into a regular exercise routine. I used to be very active and go to the gym regularly; however, [insert excuses here]. No more excuses, it’s time to get back to it.
I am not going to do the “gym thing” because I am not willing to shell out the monetary funds to support something I can do on my own for free. I think the only reason why I am writing this blog because it will motivate me to follow-through with my commitment. For my sake, let’s hope that it will bloom into fruition. I would love to do something like P-90X but I have no one in my house! There I go again with my excuses . . .
Let’s see . . . I can do push-ups and sit-ups on my yoga mat at home. My room is really cluttered so I would have to do some organization and kill two birds with one stone (clean my room and exercise, yay!). Plank exercises are good right? Maybe some of those will be good. Oh, I can throw in some free weights! This way, I can watch TV and do some lifting. Ok, I know myself. I know if I put too much on my plate, I will not do it. So maybe just the free weights for now. Then throwing in some push-ups and so on.
Now what to do with scheduling this exercise in. I think 3 times a week is a good start. Hey, it’s better than the nothing I’m doing now.
That’s me down there . . . the T-REX!
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My Mom Came to Visit Me! ⟩
January 26, 2012, by Chelsea
Living in LA School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?
Last Monday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, my amazing mom drove two and a half hours from San Diego just to hang out with me for the day. We are both avid beach-goers and so, naturally, we decided to beeline for the Pacific Ocean. We hopped on the 110S, merged onto the 105W, and didn’t stop until we saw the bright sun shining over the sparkling water. One of our favorite restaurants in Manhattan Beach is called the North End Café, which had a debut on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and has been a hot spot ever since. We drove down Highland Avenue, but passed the North End Café since it looked so busy and we decided to try somewhere new with a good view. Well we got a great view, but the food was nothing to brag about and I can’t even remember the name of the restaurant.
After eating, my mom and I went to a small grassy park looking over the beach and sat down. There were four blond little girls ranging from 2 years old to 7 years old and they had three skateboards. The grassy park started on Highland Avenue and went almost all the way down the hill to the beach. It started with a plateau, then curved downward, then plateaued, and so on. The four little blond girls would sit on their skateboards and ride down the hill from the top to the bottom laughing and screaming for joy. My mom and I had so much fun watching them and I couldn’t help thinking about my Sensory Integration elective and how these little girls were organizing play and integrating their senses so flawlessly. In my head I’m thinking, “Wow, they are receiving proprioceptive, vestibular, and tactile input from this activity, all of which is aiding their childhood development and they don’t even know it!” The proprioceptive skill of knowing where their body was in space will help their motor coordination, the vestibular input of motion caused by gravity will help their postural control, and the tactile input of holding onto the skateboard will help their skilled movement as well as emotional development! After taking this sensory integration course I don’t know if I will ever be able to look at kids playing without thinking in occupational therapy terms!
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Penny the Kitten ⟩
January 25, 2012, by Alix
Last week we adopted a new kitten! Her name is Penny. She’s extremely adorable. She’s also completely fearless, which makes her the opposite of our other cat, Jimmy. (He is afraid of anything bigger than a bottle cap and/or anything that moves.) We read a lot of horror stories about two cats living in the same household and hating each other, so we were nervous about how Penny and Jimmy would get along. But I am happy to report that they are best friends already. They follow each other around all day long and play hide-and-seek. The only problem happens when Penny tries to play with Jimmy’s favorite toy, a fuzzy plush tick (yes, a tick), which he would protect with his life. Here’s a picture of Penny in her favorite little house. Welcome to the family, Penny.
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Back to reality ⟩
January 24, 2012, by Chris
Well, week three of my last semester at USC has begun and it hasn’t quite hit me yet. In less than 6 months I’ll be starting my first level II fieldwork in San Diego. My break was fantastic, aside from the actual winter weather that I did not miss. I had plenty of free time to play basketball with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while and just hang out with my dogs. For Christmas, my girlfriend gave me tickets to the Army All American Bowl game in San Antonio, Texas. It was my first time visiting Texas, but it’s a really cool city.
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Year of the Dragon! ⟩
January 23, 2012, by Floyd
Today is the first day of Chinese New Year 2012 and the corresponding zodiac animal is the Dragon, the Water Dragon specifically. Unlike western culture where we celebrate the New Year on January 1st with the dropping of the ball in Times Square, we celebrate the New Year depending of the lunar calendar.
My understanding of the folktale of the zodiac animals came from my grandmother’s stories she told me when I was little. Thousands of years ago, the Buddha decided to designate animals to the lunar calendar to help the farmers know when the best times to plant and harvest crops. He devised a huge race and invited all the animals throughout the land. The first 12 to cross the finish line would be given spot on the zodiac in the order of crossing. During the middle of the race, there was a long river which many of the animals could not cross, so they had to take time in traveling around the riverbed. Rat and Cat were best friends and decided to venture the race together. The cunning and devious Rat knew that Ox could ferry across the river with ease, so he asked Ox to help ferry Cat and him across the river in exchange for his clear sight and the cat’s sense of direction. Ox had poor vision, so he gladly obliged to ferry them across the river. In the middle of the river, Rat thought to himself that he wanted first place, but worried that Cat would be faster than him. So, being devious and knowing that Cat hated water, Rat pushed Cat into the river while Ox was oblivious due to his poor sight. When they reached land, Rat jumped off Ox and was the first to cross the finish line, following by the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and finally, the Pig. When Cat finally reached the finish line, Buddha sadly told him that all the spots were taken already and that he would not be able to be part of the zodiac. Cat was furious and swore revenge on Rat, which is why cats are always out for the hunt for rats nowadays.
Happy Chinese New Year!
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