Senior Project

For my senior project, I wanted something original and something that would help me with the big desicions coming up in life. So immediately things such as running a marathon or half-marathon weren't in the picture,  (no offense to anyone doing that project) or doing another oft-repeated experience. I've always been interested in food, so I tried to think of a project that had to do with cooking or interning at a retaurant, but I know how to cook and it seemed that anything else wouldn't work out. So while keeping the "big decisions" like college and career in mind, I enlisted the help of my dad to help think of ideas. He wanted something to help me and my classmates to see how different careers actually are, and I thought of a job fair immediately. We thought of a few more details, and agreed that it would be a challenging and rewarding adventure to go forward with.

So, I have the idea, and some information that I collected from my classmates about what careers they thought could be in their future. That will find its way into my research paper probably, which I decided to be about the changes in most popular jobs from 25 years ago to present day. A compare and contrast paper with analysis of why the trends happen and what will be next is the general gist. I had hoped to find time during the summer to get an early start on everything by completeing my research paper, but despite the available time I haven't brought myself to start it. Which is not to say that I won't or it's too late, but it's looking increasingly doubtful.

The general plan for the job fair is to host it in the NHS gym, on possibly two different dates, with around ten professionals in popular careers there to explain their jobs and answer questions. I will have a couple of senior classes visit to learn about the jobs they are interested in, therefore providing real knowledge to me and my classmates about the big choices we have coming up in life. So I will be helping the community by this project, which is a plus.

I'm thinking that this project will be challenging because of the organization of 10+ professionals. Finding willing people, a time that works for everyone, and the information which we will present will be a hard task. But the senior project was never promised to be easy, and easy projects aren't encouraged.

A few assets that I have include my parents, as my mom is a nurse and my dad is a physical therapist, because both careers are popular ones. Also, I have been told that the community is generally very helpful in aiding students with their projects, so that is a welcome bit of news. Ultimately, I'm excited to start working with people to learn about their careers and start the organiztion of the event. I feel confident that the school will be very accomodating in relation to the gymnasium use and with classes coming to visit.

My first priority will be to complete my AP summer homework before moving on to Senior project concerns though.   

Okay, 500 words, I can do this. Let's start with what I think about this blogging homework. I like it actually, even though I'm not a big online presence anywhere, so this will introduce me to the online community more. In this so-termed technological age we are going through, I feel like I've just been a spectator. I go on youtube, but I don't upload videos, I have a Facebook account made by someone else and the last time I logged on was maybe four months ago. I also don't have accounts with Twitter, Instagram, Path, and previously Google Blogger. So this is good for me. Although most of the time I'm happy that I don't have ten social-networking sites to check up on, because then you really are just spectating on the lives of others.

I notice that you can't use 'tab', and that's good because then it's more informal, as a blog should be.

So, I currently work at Gap outlet, and here are the pros and cons about it:
Pros:      1. It's a Job.     2. My coworkers are cool.   3. It pays money-> It's a job.
Cons:     1. It's boring.   2. It pays minimum wage.   3. It's making me look for another job.

Basically I'm trying to get another job, in the food business preferably, like a bakery or restaurant. Although I won't quit until I find another job because I'd rather be working and getting money than not working at all, as anyone with a job will tell you.

For things I like to do, I would include sports. I've been on the track and soccer teams for NHS for the three years I've completed so far, and before that I have always played soccer starting at age six or seven. I like to go on runs sometimes, because I like to stay in shape and a good run makes you feel great during and after the activity. I also go biking at times, although at the moment my bike has a flat, and my temporary solution is to pump it full before the bike ride instead of patching the hole. Lazy, I know, but it works. Snowboarding in the winter is always awesome, albiet expensive. Which reminds me how I was playing with snow the other day, right in the middle of summer! It was in desolation wilderness, on a three day hike on our backpacking trip up to the snow we saw at around 10,000 ft. My sister, dad, family friend and I all went and had a great time. Here are pictures.

I also like reading, with some of my favorites including the Eragon series, Harry Potter (of course!), Cirque Du Freak, the Demonata, Ender's Game, and a lot I can't think of right now. I also enjoy reading some nonfiction like Newsweek, some newspapers, and online news.

I live in a great house ten minutes away from town and twenty minutes away from school, which is annoying at times. We have a pool, an acre of land for a lawn, fruit trees, and chickens, and the vineyards around us are open to us for runs, walks, bike rides, and more. For pets we have the aforementioned chickens, (nameless, although we used to name our chickens around seven years ago) a mini-australian shepard, (Aussie), and a cat (Tiger). My dad, with the help of me and my brother mostly, has built a bridge, a second house on the property, (that one we weren't alive to help with) raised beds for gardening, an arbour and other structures and infrastructure.

Wow, that was exceedingly easy and took an hour only. I just checked the word count...595 before this line!

I'll do a little more though. For college, I plan to stay in California and probably go to a UC. For a major, I'm not sure what I want to do yet, but I definitely know some things that I'm not interested in. Like Russian studies or Asian Languages or Accounting. I just don't want to end up in a cubicle. Something more interactive, stimulating, and creative would be better. And something with some freedom in it. That's not too much to ask is it?

-Nicholas