Student Blog
Life Hacks

No phone for 24 hours? No problem ⟩
October 25, 2012, by Alisa

Life Hacks School/Life Balance

So, I went to my parents’ house for the weekend, and when I was on the freeway coming back to school, I realized I had forgotten my phone at home! I had to make a decision between driving back, which would take about 15 minutes or just go to class. I chose the latter. I knew I could live without a phone. I felt that I got a lot more free time because when I had my smart phone with me, I tend to check it quite often. It’s become a habit, but I do try to refrain from it. Those emails and notifications can wait. Go live your life now. Connect with the people around you. We are humans. We crave social interactions, or at least I do.

The positive side to leaving my phone at home was the fact that I would get to visit home again soon. I didn’t know that it was going to be the very next day! I went back the next day after fieldwork, and it was my dad’s birthday, too! So, we found an excuse to all go out and have dinner together. With the exception of my sister, no one else in my family had been to The Boiling Crab before. We had sweet potato fries, sausage, corn, shrimp, crawfish, and king crab. If you haven’t been to a restaurant like The Boiling Crab, it will get messy! You will be given a bib. It is a totally hands-on experience. You have to do everything yourself from taking off the peel to squeezing the lemon. I was stuffed, but, it was so good. A little on the salty side, but hey, you can for less salt on your orders. I got creative when I ate shrimp with a ball of rice. It reminded me of spam musubi. We’re not done yet. Afterwards, we went to BJ’s just to have pizooki (cookie with ice cream). It reminded me of my childhood since my dad used to get it for us when he got off work as a sheriff. The combination of cookie and ice cream is my guilty pleasure, indeed. The phone that I forgot at home was what brought me back home, and we all happen to be able to celebrate on his special day. Good times.

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Getting Back In The Water ⟩
October 15, 2012, by Paula

Getting Involved Life Hacks

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to engage in a neglected occupation of mine at the annual Team KC Swimathon: swimming! Team KC, a Livermore-based organization, was created to honor and remember an inspiring young girl and friend of mine, Korrine Croghan. Korrine was diagnosed with choriocarcinoma in December of 2007 and fought vigorously until she passed away in October of 2008. She had a dream to raise money for other children fighting cancer in order to supply them and their families cope with everything they are dealing with and providing assistance with rent, bills, gas cards, coffee cards, etc. The Swimathon is an annual event which raises money to help meet the immediate needs of these pediatric cancer patients and their families.

I have been pushing away from this activity which used to be a component of each day for many years of my life and I always give the excuse that it is because of time, money and location. Although I know that I have many resources to look into to develop this occupation back to what it once was, I often find multiple excuses as to why I should not make these changes. Overall, regardless of what workout I do, it is not the same as swimming and I only feel completely content with a workout if I have had a challenging swim also. The Swimathon was a perfect reminder of the community which I grew up in and the relationships formed through all of the years of swimming. Once again, Korrine has inspired me to engage further and to reassess my reasoning for not swimming when I have the opportunity. She was always a motivator and I think that she would have made an amazing OT. ;]

If any of you are interested in more information about Team KC or Korrine’s story, you can check out the Facebook page, or go to Korrine’s Blog.

Go out and engage in something you have been meaning to. Live life to its fullest!

(Also, a big THANK YOU to all of you who supported Team KC throughout this process and who remembered Korrine by donating to my swim. It means the world!)

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Tips on studying for the GRE ⟩
October 6, 2012, by Alisa

Classes Life Hacks

I just took the test on October 5th and survived it! Boy, that was one long test. Some of you are probably wondering why I’m taking the test when I’m already in the OT program, right? Well, I got admitted as an undergrad at USC, so I started the program as a senior. Therefore, I didn’t have to take GRE, but now, since I’m applying for the Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, I have to submit my GRE scores. Walah! To all the undergrads out there, I would suggest taking it as an undergrad. When you’re in grad school already, you’ll be busier and to motivate myself to study was very tough.

Here are some tips for studying for the GRE:

1. Get one of the books (I used Kaplan and ETS) and do a self-study.
2. Attend one of the free GRE Strategy Sessions offered by Princeton Review. They raffled off vocabulary books and mathematics books! Wee! Free swag.
3. Take a free practice test offered through Princeton Review, Kaplan, etc. and use the results as a guide for studying.
4. Focus on studying what you’re good and master it.
5. Find a study buddy (shoutout to my tutor, a fellow OT student who patiently taught me basic mathematics during lunch and after class!).
6. Familiarize yourself with taking a computerized test. There are a total of 6 sections, one of which doesn’t count toward your score, so you should still try your hardest.
7. All the prompts for the essays are posted online. It won’t hurt to take a look at them.

On test day:

1. If you arrive early, you can take the test early, and get out earlier.
2. Bring a jacket because it might be cold.
3. You will be given a locker to put your belongings in. You can only bring your ID and the locker key in the testing room.
4. There will be one 10-minute break after the 3rd section. Use it. I went to the restroom and ate carrots.
5. There is a 1-minute break after every section. Stretch, stand up, breathe deeply, close your eyes, roll your neck or pray.
6. Do not panic! If you’ve studied well, you won’t likely be blanking out. If you do, try your best with an educated guess. Remember, there’s no penalty for guessing. Yay!
7. Remember that this is only one test. It does not define who you are. You can take it again. I believe that there are many factors that make up your application. Do not let the GRE scores deter you from applying. Regardless of the results, you are still a great person.
8. Your estimated scores for the Verbal and Quantitative sections will pop up at the end of the test. You can google “GRE Concordance Scale” if you’re unsure of how the new score is compared to the old score. For the USC OT Program, it is encouraged that you have at least a combined score of 1000 (old scale).

Good luck! You know more than you think you know. 😉

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Take a day . . . ⟩
September 27, 2012, by Ricky

Life Hacks School/Life Balance What are OS/OT?

So I was faced with a dilemma yesterday. I woke up feeling under the weather — it seems the cold I had been fending off had started to get the best of me. It was my second day of fieldwork, though; still in the trying-to-make-a-good-impression-phase. What was I to do? I wasn’t full on sick, but my body was pretty beat. I got all did-up and was about to walk out the door, but then I did something that was out of character for me: I went back to bed. After going back-and-forth in my mind, I decided to take a sick day. I reasoned that it was in all parties’ interest if I just stayed away. I think what really did it, though, was how bad I’d feel if I were to get one of the little kids at my clinic sick (even though they might be the ones who introduced the bug to me). I mean, how messed up would it be if I was working really hard in session to help these little guys enjoy more independent and meaningful lives, and then go and give them a cold. Anyhow, I took sick day, and it was GREAT!

Usually, when I take a sick day, I feel like a bum for not going to work and I try to make up for it by running a bunch of errands and/or trying to catch up on school work. I don’t really rest. However, yesterday was different. I thought to myself, “enough!” I told myself that this was the real deal, and that I would treat this as if I was at a resort for nothing more than relaxation and “me-time.” I slept until my body said no more. I meditated. I did yoga (yes, guys do yoga). I limited TV-intake to just 2 Friends episodes for a lil comic relief. I ate right to support my immune system (except for those 2 Chips A’hoy that snuck by). And I still managed to get some errands and school work done, and go to bed at a decent time. Come to think of it, it may have well been the most productive sick day ever — and it was possible because I told myself not to worry, and I put myself and my health needs first. I think it’s like hitting the gym at the end of a long day — you really don’t want to, but end up going and feel better and more alert for doing so. I guess that’s how it goes with all things. You gotta pay attention to what your body’s asking for and maintain a healthy balance.

If any of you feel like your life is hopelessly out of balance, you may want to enlist the help of an OT and fill out an Occupational Questionnaire or Balance Wheel. A neat thing I’ve learned recently in my OT 504 course (Health Promotion and Wellness) is that balance will look different for each of us. What does your occupational day-to-day look like? Do you need to take a day?

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Yoga: My Personal Medicine ⟩
September 22, 2012, by Alisa

Life Hacks

In my readings in my Mental Health class this week, I’ve read about personal medicine versus medications. Deegan defined personal medicine as “the activity that gives life meaning and purpose.” I remember a time when I cramps, and the pain affected my ability to function. My first instinct was to take Advil for pain relief, but ever since I have been doing yoga, which I considered to be my personal medicine, I don’t rely as much on taking pills. There are certain poses I could take such as child’s pose and my all-time favorite corpse pose that have restorative benefits. I could see how engaging in yoga benefits me and helps me to be more mindful and calmer. I learn to pay attention to my breath because it puts me in the here and now. Also, I just purchased the USC Workout Group Exercise and attended a yoga class. I look forward to doing that on Tuesdays! I’m going to try to do some more yoga throughout the week as well. I find it as a great stress reliever.

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