CAS Blogs

 I don't exactly know if planning an A-Term is counted as service work but I don't know what else it would be categorized under so we're just going to go with it. Anyways my A-term has gotten approved. Yay. However there is still a lot of planning with my coaches and the teachers. Although I could procrastinate and just cruise for the planning, I should instead hammer out the details for each day and talk to my coaches to plan each lesson. You'd think the work would be over once it got approved but that is the exact opposite. Now I have more work because I have to figure out all the details so that we won't be running around like chickens without heads. I also have to talk to the teachers for this A-Term. I don't know exactly who they are which isn't good so I also need to find that out. This probably sounds like a checklist more than a reflection but I am just writing what comes to my mind. I think that I've already come this far so ironing out some mor...

 So I have decided that I wanted to learn how to spar. I already know how to spar in jiu jitsu but I want to learn how to spar in boxing and hopefully work my way up to kickboxing. I decided this with my sister, who takes the lessons with me, because I want to be able to defend myself whenever possible and also I want to be stronger. Sparring is a good way to get there and bonus I get to be an asian black widow. That's what my parents call me. I thought it may be a bit easier because I am more experienced than my sister at boxing and I have sparred in jiu jitsu before. Turns out that does nothing. It's all about thinking on your feet and muscle memory. You have to be able to follow your body because in a fight you don't have time to think. Now I knew that so I thought I would be able to do that. Turns out thinking on your feet in boxing is a lot harder than jiu jitsu. For me at least. It started slow but with just two weeks of lessons, I have improved a lot. I think it was ...

 I have decided that this is the year to plan an A-term. I always thought that having a martial arts A-term would be super cool so I thought that this was a good year to do it. First I had to come up with a rough plan. I went over to my jiu jitsu gym and talked to my head coach who is also my boss. He is one of the nicest most genuine people I know. He loves his job and he truly believes in what he teaches whether it is the effectiveness of a move or how to increase your self esteem. He taught me that martial arts isn't just about beating people up like everyone thinks, it's about bettering yourself and becoming the best person you can be physically and mentally. I wanted to show everyone that side of martial arts. So I went over to my gym and asked him how I would do that. He gave me a great book about how to be a better person and become a winner. He also gave me different ideas on how to teach martial arts physically and philosophically. Once I got some new ideas, I got to w...

 I have been employed! I got a job at my jiu jitsu gym. This is a dream come true. My first job is doing something I love. I feel so grown up. I have only gone a few days so far. For most of it I have been learning how to work with little kids. Now I was a junior instructor which is just a kid volunteer instructor, so I did already have some experience teaching children, old and young. Even some adults. So I feel like I did a good job and it come naturally. My strengths that I and my boss have noticed is that I am compassionate with the kids and I am able to connect well with them. My boss says it's because I have a tender heart, but I think it's mostly because I am a total kid at heart. Maybe it's both. But I will say I am good at connecting with the kids. Although it is covid and I have to wear a mask while teaching, I've learned that if the kids can see my smile while I am teaching them then they are more open to listening. Although I am good with the kids that is no...

 This blog about considering the ethics of choices and actions is going to be deep. Recently I just had a philosophy J-Term class that went into many things one of them being moral ethics. We also got to watch some episodes from the Good Place. Which I have seen before because it was one of my favorite shows but then we had a seminar to go super duper in depth into the different moral philosophical things that were brought up in the show. One thing that really stood out to me was how one of the articles we read about the show was how people who make a choice or commit an action with good intentions but a bad result doesn't mean that they are bad people. It was the doctrine of double effect that the result and the intention should be judged on different scales. So that if the consequences were bad it shouldn't be blamed on the person who had good intentions. Now that doesn't mean everything you do with bad consequences is your fault because you should think about the consequ...

Every Christmas I have to make presents for my family. I am not allowed to buy them. As the best gift giver in my family I have a lot to live up to each year. This year I decided to try something new. Jewelry making. This has always been something I thought was a super cool skill because you can be artistic and use what you make. Anyways I've been learning how to use the wires and beads to create sophisticated looking designs. It is very difficult because I am self teaching and doing original designs which makes it even harder. However, it is turning out very well. I am pretty proud of myself. I am getting the hang of it and they are all original designs. For making earrings, they were difficult to make because they are dangles it is sometimes hard to do a design with the wire because it keeps moving but you are using both hands to design the wire. But I have found shortcuts so that I can anchor the wire to an easy place on the earring so that the wire doesn't keep moving out o...

 This week we had our last meeting of the semester for GHCF. During this meeting we were going to decide the final grant money to give each of the three non-profit organizations we worked with: A 2nd Cup, United Against Human Trafficking and Center for Success and Independence. They were all organizations that geared toward helping human trafficking through spreading awareness, helping survivors, etc. A 2nd Cup is a local Houston coffee shop that I suggested we partner with because I had already worked with them before. United Against Human Trafficking and Center for Success and Independence are both large anti human trafficking organizations, however Center for Success is mostly about helping survivors mentally with therapists. Which is great but they are mostly for helping not only survivors but also anyone with a mental disability or issue that need help. This is very good and noble but it didn't match the issue of what we were focusing on this cycle. So in the end we gave $5,50...