What I Did in Fall 2017

One would think that following the relative success of my previous blog post (by “success”, I mean all 79 reacts on Facebook) I would rush to write more and sustain the attention of my audience. Clearly, that isn’t the case as it’s been approximately five months since my last post. The main point of this blog is for me to document my experiences in trying to better myself and I’ve evidently failed at doing so thus far – mostly on the documenting part, but slightly on the “bettering myself” aspect as well.

I’ll explain.

Have I been at all interested in doing things these past few months? The simple answer is yes; there have been many efforts in attempting to do this. The issue, however, is how I went about it. I’ve realized that I haven’t exactly been able to put as much focus on these things as I would have liked; part of the reason is most likely the small challenges I experienced adjusting to my dorm at Beaty Towers and getting slightly overwhelmed by managing my academic requirements.

Even though it is somewhat embarrassing for me to expose what very little I’ve achieved, I’m gonna go ahead and do it because I promised myself I would document whatever developments I make.

So here you go.

GHQ

In the fall semester, I decided to join GHQ, a radio station based in UF. Every week I attended “G-camp” where they oriented us on all things GHQ – from engagement strategies to studio sit-ins with more experienced students. I had the chance to film a focus group session as well as watch other UF students expertly speak on air. I’d also learned the significance of creating and maintaining a personal brand and I’m hoping to actually achieve this. (Again, so far, I’ve done a pretty pathetic job and I really need to step up.)

When I come back to UF in Fall 2018, I am going to work to become a host/DJ at the radio station as well as contribute content to the new website. I enjoyed interacting with the people in this group (we even had a cute Friendsgiving dinner together!) and I look forward to becoming more engaged next year.

Singing Lessons 

As those who know me well are most likely aware of, I like to sing. It doesn’t matter where I am, and oftentimes it doesn’t even matter who’s in the room with me –  I just sing. Despite never having any formal training, I’ve done many random singing stints at school. As a young child, some of these stints did not go particularly well; I recall never making it to the “next round” or winning in any form. The only real singing triumph I can mention is being in the top 5 of my Philippine high school’s edition of The Voice, which I was actually quite proud of, thank you very much.

At the start of this school year, I decided that it was time for me to take singing lessons. This is something I wish I had started doing earlier, and while there is some regret regarding this, I figured it’s better to start now than later.

Every Saturday, I would walk from my dorm to a cozy little place called Academy of Music and Art for lessons with my teacher Emily López. It was very exciting for me to see what my voice is capable of doing (apparently I am a contralto) and I was pleased to notice some improvement in my breathing techniques and enunciation.

During one of my final days in Gainesville before Christmas break, I performed Adele’s All I Ask and Ella Fitzgerald’s Winter Wonderland in my first singing recital. I was not overly satisfied with my performances after listening to the video recordings but I can at least observe how I’ve improved since I started. Besides, it felt like a very good start for me and I am encouraged to work on more polished performances in the future.

A quick shoutout to my good friends Erika, Sian and Kalani who all took time out of their crazy “finals” schedules to come watch me perform. I love you, sweaties. 🙂

(Also, sorry, I refuse to upload the full/actual performances. Message me with bribes though.)

Weight Loss

Admittedly, there has been limited progress regarding my weight loss. I am currently at 146 lbs, meaning I have lost an underwhelming 3 lbs since July (oopsie). This is not surprising to me; I haven’t been going to the gym frequently and making food for myself, particularly the healthy kind, has proven to be a challenge.

I’m just gonna make it clear that I’ve not given up on taking care of myself; I’ve at least managed not to gain back all of the weight I’d lost (lol). At this point, it’s really important for me to bring back my gym habits, especially now that I’ve lost most of my self-consciousness when it comes to lifting weights and doing ab workouts in public.

Let’s hope my next weight loss update isn’t a total letdown (lol).

Ukulele

 

During the past summer, I began learning how to play the ukulele with the help of my sisters. When I went back to Gainesville to begin my sophomore year of college, I decided to buy my own ukulele from Amazon. I was pretty disappointed with what I ended up getting; although to be honest, I should have known better than to order one online… Unfortunately, I think that this discouraged me from practicing in a more disciplined manner and I would only really play whenever I felt like it – which was not very often at all. I’m still very much interested in learning this instrument though so it’s in my plan to purchase a proper quality one soon.

Note: Sorry for the dank quality of the practice videos. I used my laptop to record some of them so it isn’t exactly aesthetically pleasing. Also, all of these videos were from many months ago…

Other things

There are some other things that I attempted to pour some time into, but unfortunately, the effort I put into them seemed all for naught so I doubt I will be striving to work on them again. With the above mentioned, however, I am positively aware of my areas for improvement and will continue working on growing.

So there. I have been up to things. Truth be told, it hasn’t been the most productive semester in terms of hobbies or professional development – or at least not as productive as I would have liked – but I’ve found that my relationships with people have certainly matured, for which I am grateful.

Have I been good a very good blogger? Not really. I hate to say this but umm…it’s in my New Year’s Resolutions to do better…