Student Blog
Life Hacks

Sleepy head ⟩
February 20, 2013, by Alisa

Life Hacks School/Life Balance

I haven’t been getting good sleep, and partly because I get woken up in the middle of the night. I’m holding the duty phone as a resident advisor, and I’m worried that the phone will ring in the middle of the night. It affects me in that I don’t want to wake up in the morning. The hardest part of waking up is getting up. Today, my alarm clock went off at 7:45, but I didn’t actually get up into 8:16. I set a new record, where I got ready in 6 minutes just in time to catch the tram. It helped that I had my clothes all laid out the night before. I usually catch up on sleep on the weekend, but sleep is something that I’ll be more conscious now. On average my body needs at least 7 hours to be able to fully function. In my undergraduate career I have pulled one all-nighter, and in grad school about once a semester. It’s just me having poor time management skills since I often get distracted by all the wonderful opportunities at USC. Sometimes there just not time in the day to accomplish everything that I wanted to. Yesterday, Kal Penn was speaking on-campus. Today, I’m attending an event at USC where Landon Donovan will be speaking! I’m looking forward to that.

I can’t believe I’m leaving for Thailand in a week! It seems that there is so much more to do between now and when I leave, but I tell myself I’ll get through it. I set smaller goals for myself and tackle them one at a time. Of course, I reward myself for accomplishing those tasks. For my externship in Thailand, I’ll be shadowing my aunt who owns a health spa and is involved in many charitable organizations. I’ll be learning about corporate social responsibility and leadership in the health and wellness industry. I’ll also get to spend more time with my beloved grandmother as well.

⋯

Socially Occupied Beings ⟩
January 30, 2013, by Alisa

Life Hacks School/Life Balance

Getting back into the swing of things can be rough. I feel that I’m still getting used to it.  At times I feel that I have many roles and responsibilities, and I just need a time to breathe. After reading Mary Lawlor’s “The significance of being occupied: The social construction of childhood occupations” in class, I begin to view myself as a “socially occupied being.” It made me consider the things that I’m involved in. Almost everything that I engage in has a social component. I remember one time my friend jokingly said, “Are you in school to socialize, or to study?” My theory is that 5 years from now, am I going to more likely remember the time when I did things myself, or the experiences shared with others? Sometimes the motivation to study by myself is just not there, and I end of procrastinating. In other areas of my life, such as exercising, I find that I’m more motivated to work out if it’s done in a group setting. For the past 2 years, I’ve gotten the work out plan at the school gym, which means that I get to take various group workout classes. Some of my personal favorites are yoga and Zumba, where we also danced to Gangnam Style. How trendy, right? I’m getting a little bit better. Recently I attended a wedding where the bride, the groom, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen surprised the guests with Gangnam Style as well. It was awesome. What about you? How do you occupy your time? Do you consider yourself a “socially occupied being”?

Lawlor, M. C. (2003). The significance of being occupied: The social construction of childhood occupations. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 57(4), 424-434. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.57.4.424 Show abstract

⋯

Data Phone! ⟩
January 24, 2013, by Ricky

Life Hacks

Oh my goonies! So up until two weeks ago I had a classic, no-nonsense (and no data) flip-phone. The main reason for holding-out on the data was that I just couldn’t afford it. Sure I could save up for the phone, but what about the monthly $30 perpetuity? These are things an ex-accountant thinks about. So I reasoned, ‘what’s the point — besides, it is a phone after-all . . . a device that can make and receive telephone calls, right?’ Boy, was I wrong. The productivity that these little “miracle boxes” afford, indisputably trumps the cost. These things are no longer phones — how many people do you even catch anymore using their phones to make a long-winded phone-call? No, they are much more than that. That is, if you use them for the power of good. I can totally see how data phones can readily become a distraction, but if you consider it a tool versus a toy, then it can make you better. Life is fast these days — especially for a working graduate student. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve missed opportunities because I was the last one to check the email, or because I didn’t have my calendar memorized or in my pocket. Productivity tools like the list app called WorkFlowyare making me more efficient. Oh, and one more thing about apps, Google Maps (end of apps discussion). Yep, things are going well for me and my data phone. If I ever had to go back to the trusty ‘ol flip-phone, I think I could pull it off, but I just don’t want to.

⋯

New Year, New You! ⟩
January 9, 2013, by Alisa

Life Hacks School/Life Balance

Happy New Year! Happy New You! Yes, we all survived the apocalypse. That’s something to celebrate about, right? I hope all my readers had a restful break. Last year I was in Thailand for the holidays and got to visit China as well. It was short and sweet, and I learned a few new things as well. This year, however, I did a stay-cation. I got to enjoy the warm rays of sun, wished upon a shooting star, and spent the holidays with friends and family. As I grow older, I realize that the people you spend time with matter more than the location. I made myself a few goals over break, and I achieved most of them. Yay! Time to celebrate by doing the Gangnam Style dance!

Just to recap the goals:

• Decorate the Christmas tree (Did that and already undecorated it)
• Learn how to play a ukulele (Had a jam session with a classmate who generously taught me tuning, reading tabs, and strumming patterns)
• Learn how to juggle (I haven’t practice over break yet, but break is not over, so I could still achieve this goal)
• Master the Gangnam-style dance (Okay, maybe I haven’t completely mastered it, but a group of us danced in front of a crowd. Does that count? Also, on New Year’s Eve, my mom and I danced with Psy on TV. Did you know that his YouTube video reached a billion views? That’s unbelievable and of course, it was the top news of 2012)
• Read Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Done and already rented out the next book on my Kindle)
• Do more yoga (Yes, I went to my local yoga studio to practice. One of the sessions I attended was taught by a male instructor. Honestly, he was the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, which, of course, gave me the adrenaline to work harder. He was an eye candy with a soft tone of voice, muscly, tall, and handsome and emphasized fluidity in our poses and movements. Another class that I attended was taught by a chiropractor. The class is called Prana Flow, and it was 2.5 hours. Yes, you are reading correctly. 2.5 hours. 150 minutes. A good half hour of it was meditation. Since I went to the class at night, I had already exerted myself leading a food tour earlier that day, so when the corpse pose (savasana), where you lie supine on the ground, came around, I knocked out. Twice. At the start of class and at the end of class. So, I’ve concluded that I’m addicted to yoga. I would like to get a teaching certification one day, so that I could share my practice with others, making it accessible to everyone. It is my dream to own a health and wellness studio one day. Yes, all my readers could get a free class. 😉

I can’t believe that school resumes next week, but it’ll be good to get the ball rolling. I still have to finalize my schedule, but I’ll get that all sorted out very soon. It doesn’t help that there are so many elective options we could choose that with my being the indecisive type does not really help.

⋯

Resolutions ⟩
January 8, 2013, by Ricky

Life Hacks School/Life Balance

As of today, I am beginning operation Get Fit (Registered Trademark by Ricky — not really). So I know we’ve been in the New Year for a few days now, but I was on vacation up through yesterday — well . . . technically, I started work yesterday, but yesterday was the BCS Bowl (which turned out to be a disappointment) and I knew I’d be enjoying several delicious beverages and a few unhealthy snacks. Anyhow, as of today, it’s go-time! Operation Get Fit is a work in progress, but the foundation includes daily physical exercise, meditation, and eating healthy. The focus right now is maximizing mornings. My ideal morning includes some exercise, a warm shower, and a solid breakfast. I always feel more productive and satisfied with my performance if I start the day with a good jog. This might actually have something to do with my sensory preferences — I may just be giving my body what it needs to start the day. The real challenge with my fitness goals is being able to make the time. My schedule is pretty tight, with school, work, the fiancée, and living so far from everything. But it is as they say, “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” There is always a way. One strength is having a gym nearby wherever I’m at. And another strength is the fact that I love the gym. I get so pumped when I walk in and see super-fit people grinding on the machines and weights. I get even more pumped when I see people that are in non-ideal shape hitting it hard. I’m like “yeah, get your health on!” I guess I’m lucky to feel this way because I know some people who hate the gym. Anyhow, as most college students probably do, I am really reconsidering my living arrangements as of late — I may just rent someone’s couch for the remaining semester. Anybody got a living-room couch for rent? Haha. We’ll see how it all works out, one thing’s for sure, I am getting FIT! I’ll be getting married this summer and I want to be in top shape. Next on the list: figuring out how to grow some more hair. 😊

⋯