My Goal! :D

[Protosschick99]

In light of all this school talk--I wanted to share my goal for this coming fall semester.

I am majoring in both Music and Business Administration. Right now I am focusing on music and these are my classes:

<1> Music Fundamentals - Rhythm, music reading, scale writing, counting measures, key signatures, pitches, etc.

<2> Beginner's Voice - Using techniques to project, warm-ups, tone, etc.

<3> Beginning Piano - Scales, songs, read music.

<4> Pop/Salsa Ensemble - I play bongos :D And sometimes congas ;)

<5> World Percussion Technique - Read music, learn different techniques on arabic, indian, latin, drumming. Basicaly world percussion.

<6> Applied Music - Percussion lessons! During the semester I perform before the whole class doing a conga solo :D

Okay--Since I am learning all this cool stuff--I have a goal set for this year. I just found out, that in the Pop/Rock Ensemble class, they are split up into groups. Out of five groups, ONE is put together from the best players and they are chosen to play gigs and tour in Japan! Everything completely paid in full, as well as spending money :D

I already have favor with one of the teacher's who are involved in that who is hard to get favor from! :D

I walked into my Salsa Class the first day and just busted out some stuff on the bongos (I've NEVER played bongos before--Keep that in mind :D) when my teacher stops the entire ensemble and tells the whole percussion section (Who are all guys :P) that they need to be like me.

"All you guys can do is read charts and technique. She *Points to me* doesn't know how to read music, doesn't have technique, but she feels the music! She has the hands! You all need to be more like her."
After Mr. Hoene (Pronounced HAY-NEE) said that, I got so embarassed and was like, "Okay...Don't draw negative attention to me...." Because they all were practically glaring at me. :(

Well, everyone in the percussion section has warmed up to me and thier faces light up when they see me and they say hi and are polite--Except for ONE guy.

He is the drummer for our band. He has it out for me. He's very jealous of me because I have favor from Mr. Hoene. I just found out that when you get a compliment from Mr. Hoene, it's like the Heavens sing and trumpets play and fireworks come outta nowhere, lolz. It's a BIG thing. And I had no clue!

My brother (Who is majoring in music production and plays guitar VERY well may I add, lolz :P) told me that he has been trying his best to get a compliment from Mr. Hoene because he knows that once he's in with Mr. Hoene, he'll have a GREAT chance at getting a position in the Japan Tour band. My brother was telling me yesterday, "Grace--You got it made. You'll be in that Japan Tour Band if you just apply yourself!"

So this is my goal: Join the Pop/Rock Ensemble next fall semester so that way I can be chosen to tour in Japan in the summer :D

With the favor of God & plenty of practice--I can do it! :D

Anywayz--About that drummer guy. I am doing everything I can to get to know him and be cool--But he's stand offish with me, ignores me when I smile at him, talks over me when I am engaging in conversation with ppl that he knows, and is just rude! :(

There is this guy named Diego who is well respected among us percussionists because he teaches us things. Well, Diego has taken me under his wing and is showing me all sorts of great things! I saw Diego in the halls with that drummer when I say, "Hey Diego! I've been practicing what you taught me!" All excited and happy when the drummer takes the conga he is carrying and starts playing it while I am trying to talk to Diego <_<
He just does what he can to annoy me and say without saying, "I am better than you!" He feels threatened by me and I am at a loss at what to do besides pray!

Any suggestions?

[Neo]

PC your so cool.

We're actually trying to get me into school this fall. Its hard though, seeing that we are poor as fuck. =/

Plus I'm a geek, and see very little point to english classes and speeches and shit.

Ah well, new current goal (Within aweek or 2) is to get an updated a+ certification from 2006. Yippee XD

-Kupa

[Protosschick99]

No Neo--You r t3h 1337 :D

Have you ever looked into financial aid?

http://fafsa.org

Check it out! It's helped my family A LOT :D

[GenocideAlive]

Plus I'm a geek, and see very little point to english classes and speeches and shit.
Those aren't necessarily there for you. Generally, they're for other educated people who are forced to listen to you speak or read your writing. I'm sure you'd love to go through life using "Um", "uh", "errrr", "like", and other thinking sounds, but everybody listening must fight the compulsion to kill themselves. Thus, they have to herd together all the little talking noobs and teach them how to communicate without being dismissed as an uneducated twit after two sentences.

There's already a lot of crying about English classes in lower grades, but obviously it's still needed because people leave high school knowing little. What's amazing to me is that proficiency in English is so rare that it often merits people credit for being intelligent. You could be a complete dumbass, but if you knew how to write and speak well, others would hold your opinion in higher regard than someone who was more capable yet only able to communicate poorly. Knowing this, people still act as though it's useless.
PC your so cool.
I can still see a point to your English classes, even if you can't.
He feels threatened by me and I am at a loss at what to do besides pray!
Wait until you join the workforce and these people are at work with you. I tell you, there's...OK, I'm just going to stop before I swerve off-topic. Needless to say, PC, generally those with gifts often "threaten" others around them. It's difficult for me to ascertain how talented you are and how much is just your general self-absorption, but if you are indeed gifted in that respect it's probably going to be something for which you must grow accustomed. Your best bet is to always attempt to simply do your thing and mind your business until they adjust.

If it is just one person, then you thankfully have a rather simple solution: compliment them. When they say or do something obnoxious for attention, give it to them. Make it your personal job to give this person a compliment every time they start their little "show" for you. The more obnoxious you are in response, the better. If you're trying to talk and he starts beating on the bongos, just drop everything and gush about it. After a while he'll either catch on that he's being obnoxious or he'll relax because you're giving him the attention and he feels validated.

It can be difficult, though, because if he doesn't catch on you may just have to tone down your participation. If you try to be the best at everything and you can't let someone else shine, then it's just as much you as it is him. Not everything is a competition, and if you take every social environment as an opportunity to prove yourself, you're going to attract the ire of those like you.

[TinyDancer]

GA is right. My cousin got a new laptop for her birthday, a new PDA a few months ago, and a camera for Christmas. I got my mom's old, but fully functional PDA, my dad's old but fully functional laptop, and a brand new camera recently. When I got the PDA, I was excited and told her. She said "I got one of those when they were new." and snubbed me. When I told her I got a laptop, she said "I got a new one for my birthday, it's nicer than yours." and at Christmas, I showed her my kickass camera, which happens to be .5 megapixels below hers, but half an inch thinner, she said "Yet another thing I have that's better than yours!" I just replied, "Do you want a cookie or something?"

She hasn't acted like that since.

[Protosschick99]

AHAHAHA!!! Go TD :D You get rep for telling her off ;)

I wouldn't be like that. If someone shows me something that they got and mine is nicer, I won't be like, "OMG mine's better!!!!!!" That's just rude snobbish and messed up.

I would congratulate them and tell them how awesome and fortunate they are to get something that they've wanted :)

That's cool you got a laptop, I wish I had one >.< lolz :P

@ GA: Thanks for the advice :D When our CD comes out--I'll upload the songs so you can hear me play. Because from what I understand, the salsa band always goes to our on-campus studio at the end of the semester and records their stuff :)

So give me a couple months and you guys can see how I sound. Btw--I wanna ask what's wrong at wanting to be the best? Here's my issue--Help me out here GA to understand better :)

I've had a hard time in my percussion "career" so to say over the years. I started learning when I was 15, playing when I was 16, and started playing with professional musicians when I was 17-present.

Over the years I've encountered friendly musicians and then stuck up, arrogant, think-they-are-all that musicians. And ALL of them have been male. The only musicians I've played with that are female are my sister, my mom, and my best friend Darlene.

All mean musicians have been male--And they have pretty much done everything they can to tear me down, tell me I suck, hurt me emotionally, push me off the congas if I'm on--Yet here comes another male conga player who's crappier than I am and they are like, "Oh you're doing great! Keep it up!" All encouraging and crap but me? Oh no. I'm female so therefore I don't belong >.<

That's what it's been like.

So what have I had to do? I've had to fight my way to the top. Fight my way to earn their respect. When they see me at the congas they laugh or are surprised. But when they hear me play their mouths drop open and they are stunned and shocked into respect. And it shocks them even more to learn that I've never had a lesson in my life until this year.

But then there are those who once they hear me play get jealous :(

Then there are those who hear me play and then do everything they can to show that they are better than me because ppl either like me better than them or they just feel threatened and want to be the alpha male >.<

Which is why I have this chip on my shoulder in a way. Not only that--I wanna show them that I can play just as well as any man can. I wanna be the best so that way I can show them that girls can play too. I've had to jump hoops lit on fire practically to get to where I am at today. Why? Because I'm female and a minority. It's the truth. I've had to fight my way to the top for respect and that's my attitude.

I like meeting new ppl, especially other percussionist's so we can share with each other on what we've learned and how we play things. It's when I meet musicians who think they are all that when I get annoyed.

I have this mindset: If I see a person who's stuck up and knows/thinks they are all that, I refuse to give them compliments because it'll only make their head bigger :P

Anywayz, I'm not saying I'm all that--Because I'm not. I'm just blessed that I have learned so quickly and have had the opportunity to sit under great teachers to learn stuff from.

I've been praying that one day I'll get to meet Shiela E. Oh man that would be sooo awesome :D She's the best female drummer/percussionist EV4R!! I wanna hook up with her and not only meet her but learn from her :D (Click on my sig, scroll down on "Who I'd Like To Meet" and you'll see her :)

Anywayz wow--Yeah--So that's my beef GA. How would you see that from a "psychologist" POV? I'm gonna start calling you the WB pyschologist, lolz :P

[Neo]

please compare my writing and grammar skills from an online gaming forum to how I would write if it was for something professional.

Spare me GA.

If I am working as a computer tech somewhere, people aren't going to be that interested in how eloquently I talk. If they do, I'm sure I can find another tech job elsewhere.

The point being that I don't like to waste me time, which is why I don't feel the need to waste my time on something inane and retarded as speaking, or writing some essay, paper,etc... that isn't related to the field of study I'm going to eventually work in.

I'm not saying its useless, since being proficient in English is definitely a good thing. However, I would rather spend my time learning things that will actually help me. What kind of computer tech related job am I going to be in that would require me to have perfect english and grammatical skills?

Fuck, I'm one of the last people in my family who makes sure to use capital letters, and punctuation marks in email. People see a computer and think "WOW DON'T NEED THOSE PESKY PERIODS OR COMMAS OR GOD FORBID AN APOSTROPHE!!"

which is just fucking lame. I once conversed with some women who had a serious doctorate in something and had the typing skills of a 13 year old aim'er.

-Kupa

[GroG]

I'm not sure what kind of skills you need for "computer tech", but here are several I can think of off the top of my head for an array of computer (MIS, Com S, phone tech, etc)

1) walking someone through step by step directions over the phone
2) explain things to people without technical lingo
3) commenting your code
4) interviewing
5) yearly evaluations (interview or filling out a form)
6) being part of a group that codes, explaining to your group your specific iterations of a section of code
7) writing help manual for a new program (technical writer)
8) training someone on a new system you designed
9) managing an information system team

...and the list goes on

[GenocideAlive]

I think Kupa is just going to have to enter the workforce and learn the hard way.

Step 1: Learn about computers.
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit.

Is no real plan, but I guess you're going to have to figure it out yourself. Half of the reason that nearly every computer job out there is being outsourced to India is because there are a shit-ton of fat computer nerds in America with your attitude. Thanks, but I'd rather pay half as much to hear an Indian struggle with English while earnestly trying to help me as opposed to being forced to listen to some condescending jackass struggle with English for 2x as much.

I'm sure CTRLALTDEL thinks it's funny, but I find it trite and boring.

[Protosschick99]

You didn't respond to me GA :(

[Yoda]

Good luck, PC. Learning about music is really cool! (Although 'history of music' is incredibly tedious, good thing you don't have to know it). :)

[GenocideAlive]

Sorry, PC, I got caught up in Neo's senseless diatribe.

In regard to your problem with sexism, as the saying goes, "the fire you keep for your enemy burns you more often than he." In other words: don't let your battles embitter you. Yes, it certainly is a proclivity of all humans, to adapt to our situation. But if you permit yourself to "adapt" to arrogant, hurtful people, then you're going to become a real bitch to be around.

Thus, the root of my advice: compliment them. If you compliment them, you will always be different than they are, you will always maintain at least one aspect of good behavior that is totally contradictory to their influence. Of course, the main problem will be in keeping your comments sincere and meaningful. But simply bringing yourself to make the compliment is at least half the battle.

Fighting will always be easy, it's the way of our world; survival of the fittest is the decree of nature. Overcoming our urge to fight and instead trying to improve what's around us at an emotional cost to ourselves is what hopefully makes us slightly more than our animal counterparts. Honestly, as animals, we are piss-poor: we aren't particularly adept at fighting, eating, scavenging, hunting, etc. The only thing at which we excel is a world-class ability to work together in dynamic environments. Stick to what we're good at, and you'll thrive.

[Neo]

I think Kupa is just going to have to enter the workforce and learn the hard way.

Step 1: Learn about computers.
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit.

Is no real plan, but I guess you're going to have to figure it out yourself. Half of the reason that nearly every computer job out there is being outsourced to India is because there are a shit-ton of fat computer nerds in America with your attitude. Thanks, but I'd rather pay half as much to hear an Indian struggle with English while earnestly trying to help me as opposed to being forced to listen to some condescending jackass struggle with English for 2x as much.

I'm sure CTRLALTDEL thinks it's funny, but I find it trite and boring.
I'm talking about being an IT Professional. IE: not a call support tech. There is a shortage in this country for skilled IT technicians and the like. There was recently an article somewhere about it, and how IT Techs are likely to make less money then Sales people because IT People don't negotiate -- where sales people see an interview as a beginning step to being hired, it talked about how IT people see it as the first, second, and last step.

...err anyways whatever.

Please don't confuse "tech support call centers" with "it related positions" (ie: onsite tech support, upgrade, repair, networks/networking/administration, etc...)

my diatribe wasn't senseless either. Since you had to make some half-ass comment about my grammar skills. As if that completely negates my wish to not waste time on something I'll never use again. If I am going to school to learn about network infrastructure, setup, maintenance, and administration, then being able to write poetry isn't really going to help me that much is it?

The only reason outsourcing is happening, at any rate, is because its cheaper to pay someone in india to rehash canned responses then it is to pay someone here to do the same thing.

-Kupa

[GenocideAlive]

Gee Kupa, you're so smart. Knowing the difference between a call tech support and onsite IT people. Man, you really told me, especially since you have your unsupported bullshit you're floating out there. Let's have a little taste of reality, shall we?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/14/tech/main563016.shtml
"I told him, 'Unless you're planning to do this as a path to technical sales, don't do it,"' said Kerrigan, who lives in Oakland. "He won't be able to have a career designing and building stuff because all those jobs have moved to India."

The hemorrhaging of tens of thousands of technology jobs in recent years to cheaper workers abroad is already a fact of life - as inevitable, U.S. executives say, as the 1980s migration of Rust Belt manufacturing jobs to Southeast Asia and Latin America.

But a new wave of technology outsourcing - involving tasks that involve greater skills - could be cutting to the industry's bone, threatening to prolong the three-year U.S. economic downturn.
http://www.techbizindia.com/newsletters/070206/technical_education.htm
"It's a big problem for us that we can't get these great students," said Gates earlier this year.

These same technology employers, meanwhile, have proved themselves increasingly fleet-of-foot when it comes to securing those graduates.

In December, Microsoft and Intel both announced plans to make major investments in India research & development centers. These included plans to hire at least 3,000 workers, and in Intel's case, invest $250 million in local startups.

Multinationals are no longer just looking to offshore systems maintenance work and routine coding. In a December survey, consultancy A.T. Kearney found global business executives ranked China and India as increasingly attractive locations for R&D.
IT jobs for qualified professionals are to be had, for sure. But the problem everywhere is that they're incredibly competitive. For instance, Microsoft claims to be having a crisis in hires, but a third-party consultant claims that they're "frankly, turning away a lot of people well qualified for the job". Every American company wants the uber-professional, able to fill niches as well as do jack-of-all work. It ends up being that you need an MS for a BS position because of the ridiculous competition. Enrollment for CS degrees is down, down, down, because people are waking up and smelling the coffee. If it isn't onsite hardware, there's someone in India that can do it for you. And since all of your other computer jobs are running off to India, guess which America-based job is freakishly competitive? You got it, the onsite-based hardware.

Either way, you can bitch and moan all you want, but claiming that you don't need 12 hours worth of English classes in college because you don't like it is a fucking joke. If I have to take 2 years of a foreign language to get a degree in Microbiology, I think you can suck up 2 years worth of your native language, crybaby. God forbid you're forced out of your little comfort zone bubble and get a little culture. Everything you need to know about English is in Wal*Mart, I'm sure.

[Neo]

Well the problem with microsoft is that people have this stigma about it, ie: they refuse to work for them (which is fucking insane). At any rate. apparently whoever microsoft uses to hire people apparently is retarded, since they tried to (interview) hire some anti-microsoft extremist

...or something.

Microsoft and Intel are hardly the only people who offer IT related jobs. You also seem to be missing my point -- just because one is an IT Person (Administrator, or even a grunt) doesn't mean they can only work at IT Companies such as IBM, Microsoft, or Intel. Every major corporation in america needs these kind of people, and thats what I'm talking about.

Does that make a little bit more sense?

-Kupa

[Wick3d]

I have this mindset: If I see a person who's stuck up and knows/thinks they are all that, I refuse to give them compliments because it'll only make their head bigger :PK, so... treat others as you wish to be treated unless you don't like them, then just do whatever you want?