It’s March and when that month used to come to mid I would associate the word madness. However, now that I’m in college, this whole month all I have been hearing about is midterms and it’s only raising anxiety levels.  In case your ever in my situation where you are working a billion hours a week and sleeping roughly forty eight hours, here are some things you can do to help reduce anxiety: (I just re-pasted these tips from another website, hopefully it helps though)

Test preparation to reduce anxiety:

• Approach the exam with confidence:
  Use whatever strategies you can to personalize success:  vizualization, logic, talking to your self, practice, team work, journaling, etc.
  View the exam as an opportunity to show how much you’ve studied and to receive a reward for the studying you’ve done
• Be prepared!
  Learn your material thoroughly and organize what materials you will need for the test.  Use a checklist
• Choose a comfortable location for taking the test
  with good lighting and minimal distractions
• Allow yourself plenty of time,
  especially to do things you need to do before the test and still get there a little early
• Avoid thinking you need to cram just before
• Strive for a relaxed state of concentration
  Avoid speaking with any fellow students who have not prepared, who express negativity, who will distract your preparation
• A program of exercise
  is said to sharpen the mind
• Get a good night’s sleep
  the night before the exam
• Don’t go to the exam with an empty stomach
  Fresh fruits and vegetables are often recommended to reduce stress.
  Stressful foods can include processed foods, artificial sweeteners, carbonated soft drinks, chocolate, eggs, fried foods, junk foods, pork, red meat, sugar, white flour products, chips and similar snack foods, foods containing preservatives or heavy spices
• Take a small snack, or some other nourishment
  to help take your mind off of your anxiety.
  Avoid high sugar content (candy) which may aggravate your condition

During the test:

• Read the directions carefully
• Budget your test taking time
• Change positions to help you relax
• If you go blank, skip the question and go on
• If you’re taking an essay test
  and you go blank on the whole test, pick a question and start writing. It may trigger the answer in your mind
• Don’t panic
  when students start handing in their papers. There’s no reward for being the first done

If you find yourself tensing and getting anxious during the test

• Relax; you are in control.
  Take slow, deep breaths
• Don’t think about the fear
  Pause:  think about the next step and keep on task, step by step
• Use positive reinforcement for yourself:
  Acknowledge that you have done, and are doing, your best
• Expect some anxiety
  It’s a reminder that you want to do your best and can provide energy
  Just keep it manageable
• Realize that anxiety can be a “habit”
  and that it takes practice to use it as a tool to succeed

I know you probably heard these tips a million times, I have too.  It helps sometimes though to reiterate them and read them.

I went to BPAC, to see a screening of Dolly Madison, the first lady of James Madison. The screening is part of a PBS series about American history. Prior to the event, I did not know anything about Dolly Madison, but learned that the personalities of certain people, especially those in history, are so important in how they are perceived. Dolly was unique in that she worked with politics at a time when women were not active. Dolly’s demeanor and personality was warm and attractive to many. Aside from the plot, I had a chance to see how people lived during the time and also how history is a big part of American politics.

I feel history plays a large part in how things are currently. Without the declaration of independence and the creation of the constitution, events would have surely turned out differently. In addition, history also plays a part in the future because of a cumulative effect. I happen to see history as an important tool to use in that one can read up on history or follow the news in order to better understand life. I also felt prior to the event, that I would not be interested in the story of Dolly Madison, but found myself interested in how her story has affected the outcome of politics and history at the time.

History is important in community because we all need to understand the past and how it has created the communities we live in today. Understanding the different components that went into something can help one understand how to make greater progress in their community today.

12/24/09 – 12/27/09

FINALLY HERE!

After 2 days of waiting in hotel rooms, airports, and 12 hours of flying … I’m in Cairo!

Most people think of Egypt as some desolate, land with nothing but desert in sight, and camels as the only mode of transportation. Well, anyone within 5 minutes of getting here, can tell that it’s the complete opposite. The airport was busier than JFK when I left! The city reminds me of New York. It has the same life and vibrance as Manhattan does during the holiday season. The streets are full of lights and huge crowds, and the stores are always full and busy. The city literally never sleeps! at 4am you can find almost 3/4 of the shops still open, and the main roads still bustling with people as you would find it during the early evening. There’s so much life to this city.  To me, as well as to the millions of people living here, its vibrance overshadows the overwhelming poverty that seems to rule most of the city.However, as much as the city reminds me of New York, there’s a very different dynamic in the way the people interact with each other here. Everyone seems a lot more friendlier with one another here. With all the cab rides we took, my mom had a conversation with all the cab drivers, and other people we would encounter at the pyramids or the bazaars as if they were old friends. They would talk about how the country had changed since my mother was last here, or problems that the country is going through. They were conversations with heart. Something you wouldn’t easily find in New York, or at least for me anyway.

For my first full day here, we saw what any tourist MUST see when they get here, the pyramids. It was a foggy day, so I couldn’t really see the pyramids until we got up really close. Oh. My. God. They’re NOTHING like how they look in the pictures! To me, the biggest one looks almost as tall as the Empire State Building! I didn’t expect them to look so huge! On a clear day you can see them from My brother and I did what any tourist would do at the pyramids … we rode camels!  It’s pretty scary when the camel gets up and sits down … it feels like you’re about to fall off because it leans so far forward and backward when it gets up, but it was a lot of fun. I got a really nice view of everything going on around the pyramids up on the camel (yea … its that tall!). Our next stop that day was the Cairo Citadel. Inside it, is the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, (no not the boxer :p) It’s another one of those places where you feel in awe just by standing there and looking at it. I like to think it’s kinda like Egypt’s hidden gem. Not many tourists have heard about this place, but in my opinion, this is the second must-see tourist stop behind the pyramids and sphinx. It looks absolutely beautiful on the outside and inside. Inside the walls and domes are intricately decorated with several patterns in different shades of green. Muhammad Ali’s tomb inside the mosque, is just as beautifully decorated with the typical geometric patterns you would find in a mosque. Outside the mosque, there’s a great view of the entire city (given there’s no fog :p). One of the nicknames of Cairo (as you can see from the title) is the “city of a thousand minarets.” From the Citadel, you can see that there are literally a thousand minarets in the city! I think it’s what makes this city unique from any other place you would visit in Egypt, or throughout the Middle East. After the Citadel, we stopped by the al-Hussein district of Cairo. Here, there is the Khan el Khalili bazaar, and Masjid al Hussein. Masjid al Hussein, or the Mosque of al Hussein contains the tomb of Hussein, the grandson of Muhammad himself. For that reason it always seems to be crowded with pilgrims wanting to pray for, who is considered by many to be a holy man. I had wanted to do the same, but unfortunately, didn’t get the chance. Right next to it is the Khan el Khalili bazaar, the biggest and most famous bazaar in Cairo, and probably in all of Egypt. The place was packed with tourists, and hundreds vendors literally on your back trying to get you to buy their stuff. When you walk through it you feel like you’re in the story of Aladdin, or a story from 1001 Arabian Nights. The atmosphere has the same kind of “storybook magic” you would feel when reading (or watching) any of those old stories.

One thing I found kind of funny when touring the city was that to the average Cairo citizen, I was a complete foriegner. I have the same thick dark hair, same dark eyes, same skin color as the typical Egyptian would, yet everyone would just speak to me in English! I wasn’t sure what it was, I tried to speak Arabic in an almost-flawless Egyptian accent with the other people, and they would still ask me “where are you from?” in English! I asked my mom about this and she said it was my American demeanor. People there could tell that I wasn’t a native Egyptian, even if I spoke Egyptian Arabic with them. I thought it was interesting.

My time in this city was truly wonderful. After leaving it, I feel like it was a city I saw in a dream, and I woke up.

Not exactly day 2…Posting entries are not my primary concern. Forgetting to post here and there. Still getting better. Return of serve has a problem where I straighten my legs and arms. And then the ball becomes out of reach. Second serve is still somewhat sitting up. STill have to work on it. The coach said that there’s something that we all have to do to get better. He calls it “judging the ball”. In basic terms he’s explaining how the ball travels parabolicly on groundstrokes. And to prepare for the ball we have to start watch the ball as it rises up towards the net till it comes down back into the court. He says that most of the team members have this problem where we only look at the ball after it crosses the net which makes us hit late. Short post. Have to leave. Progress…

I have been a basketball fan since I can remember. The specific players and teams are different from when I started to follow but the sport remains interesting because of new players and new developments. Yet, I was never interested in other sports such as football and baseball. I would keep just a basic knowledge of the other sports and didn’t know a great deal about them.

In a way, I didn’t want to learn another sport the same way I learned basketball. Having followed basketball for a long time, I have an extensive knowledge of the sport. Today, I know many of the stats and players because I manage a fantasy team where such knowledge is vital. Yet, to me, learning a new sport was too time consuming and hard. I had to learn rules, all the players, the teams, the statistics, in short, a lot. It seemed that I would never be able to know as much as I did about basketball in the other sports. Yet, I realized that learning something new even if it does take a lot of time is not a bad thing to do. Having more knowledge of other sports would allow me to enjoy and follow other sports besides basketball. At this point, I realized that learning a new sport is also a good education tool in itself.

I realized that the more one learns, the better off he/she will be. Learning new things can increase overall knowledge of other key areas. It is also a good way to beat boredom and to learn a new hobby. Even in areas where I have great knowledge, I can still learn much more and improve myself as a person at the same time.

While my main focus isn’t about learning sports, or knowing all the facts in a fact book, my main focus is about learning new things. There is always a classroom in a sense that people can always pick up a book or learn.

It’s so early that I woke up before the early bird. Getting dressed for some practice and physical training. Haven’t posted in a while so here goes. Everything has improved, especially my serve. I have nothing much to say. Probably becasue it’s still early and I haven’t woken up yet. There’s not even a sign of sunlight at the moment. Just trying to waste some minutes before I leave. I woke up to my sister’s stupid ringtone. Someone called her at 6 am and I had to wake up to some scratchy rock music. Not that I have anything against rock music, I enjoy it in fact but I don’t like to be woken up at 6am to it. Babbling on about nothing is always good too I guess. Not much to say about my tennis game specifically. I’ll make the next post about more specific improvements in my strokes and game. This is all for now I guess….

Myron Rolle is a football star at FSU who graduated in 3 years and finished near the top of his Pre- Med program. In addition, he became a Rhodes Scholar and had his final interview on the same day as an important football game. Having been a fan of sports in general, I sometimes read biographies or short stories in the NY Times and other sports publications. This story is unique because Myron Rolle has the ability to play football professionally, yet he also has a very strong academic background. This example is almost similar to balancing a rigorous academic lifestyle in addition to playing on a varsity sport but to a higher standard.

In addition, Harvard basketball player Jeremy Lin is also someone who balances sports and academics very well. Jeremy Lin has the academics to make a top college such as Harvard but also can be the first Asian American to play in the NBA. When I think about how these people, young people in fact, balance the two areas so well I am at a loss of words. I only know that if one pushes themselves to excel, they can excel at many things in life. Myron Rolle himself said that he decided to play football and finish Pre- Med because he saw it as a challenge and wanted to know if he could achieve it. In the end, he decided to skip the NFL for a year and study at Oxford. This act speaks volumes for the character of Myron Rolle and where his priorities are.

While these examples are extreme cases and not the norm, I feel that people who see stories about athletes or people who excel greatly in many facets in life only benefit from them. People realize that things that may look hard to achieve, can be done. Sometimes people are able to achieve these things in life because they work hard to prepare and they persist.

Today I worked on serves, volleys, serves, return of serve, and mostly backhands. Backhand is much more solid. Serves have been critiqued a little I don’t know what I did but it’s working. Second serve is……not doing so great. Volleys are lazy. Return of serve is definitely improving.

So exhausted today. Woke up at 9:30am for a 2 hour train ride. Arrived at the courts at 11:30 only to wait another hour for the team and the coach to get there. Not to self sleep in another hour. Coach made us do these dynamic stretches before practice. I think I should doing them everytime I get on a court just to warm up. After the 3 hours of tennis I had the lovely train ride of 2 hours of bliss. I just slept like a baby. After maybe 30 minutes sitting at home guess what? Back to tennis! went to practice another 3 hours with my friends. My legs are really tired, feet hurt, eyes heavy. All for tennis eh? Finally getting back into it. For the past 2 weeks I was so burnt out I just wanted to do nothing. I ended doing close to nothing, I sat infront of the computer. That’s all for now….

12/23/2009

Almost there!

Sitting in the business class lounge in Frankfurt (with more free food!). We got a pretty nice upgrade to business class because of the huge flight delay. Maybe the delay wasn’t so bad after all.
We spent a night at a hotel here because of the delay. Everything here is so small! The hotel room for my mom, my brother, and myself was only the size of my bedroom and the bathroom was the size of a closet! The biggest car I’ve probably seen here was the size of a honda civic!
Anyway, we’ll be leaving for Cairo in about an hour. I’ll be seeing family I’ve never seen before once we get there, and we’ll be going sightseeing once get there too. I feel a little nervous. I’m hoping the language/cultural barrier won’t be too big between us, my arabic is exactly up to par, but whatever, I’m just glad I can finally meet them.

I’m so excited for all the sights we’ll be seeing once we get there! Tomorrow we’ll be going on a tour to see everything in Cairo. I can’t wait! ahhhh … I can’t believe I’m going to be there in just a few hours!

Enjoy the few pictures I took around the Frankfurt airport  :p

Well just another day at the indoor courts. Still have many things to work on. Having one of those slumps again. My serve just doesn’t seem to click anymore. It’s not like I don’t know how to serve. It just seems like my the way I time everything feels different. Not exactly sure why but I’ll keep working on it. Backhand has improved a little. Biggest problem to date would probably be me getting annoyed with everything. If I hit short I get annoyed. If I shank it I get angry. If I don’t do something else blah blah blah. I have a temper that needs to be controlled. This frustration probably comes from lack of improvement. These past few years I’ve improved a great deal. But recently it’s slowed down. Not only slowed down but even crumble to pieces. My strokes aren’t as solid. FREAKING SNAP OUT OF THIS SLUMP DAMON!!!! I haven’t started tennis since I was 5 like all the other tennis kids but I sure as hell played more tennis than they did. Hard work can overcome talent any day!! NO EXCUSES!!