Year-End Review

Emeka Igbokwe

Pathways

Essay 5

May 9, 2010

Year-end Review

            In a few days my first year of college will be over. It has been quite an experience for me. I have met many new people and done a lot of new things. Socially, my year has been great but on the other hand my academic year was not that good; no where near what I planned it out to be.

            My first semester surprisingly went better than my second semester. The first semester I was totally new to the environment. I had to find out what I was doing and how to do it. Being in the pathways program I didn’t have to pick my classes because they were chosen for me. The classes given to me were English, Math, Psychology and Astronomy. When first hearing about the classes chosen for me I was a bit confused as to why they would give a Biology major an astronomy class; I didn’t make much sense to me. It actually didn’t make sense to me what I was in The Pathways Program to begin with. I knew people who did worst than me in high school who were in the school with a regular admission but I was placed into the program. Despite that going into my first year I didn’t plan to repeat the mistakes I made in high school so being in Pathways didn’t totally faze me as much as it began to as the semester went by. To my pleasure my classes were every other day; meaning I didn’t have to go to class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In my head I thought this was I very good situation for me. Whatever work I got on Monday I would just hold myself up in my room the next day and get everything I needed done. Then on Wednesday I would easily turn in whatever I needed to turn in. that was easier said than done though.

            Early in the semester my plan worked pretty well but as I began to meet more people and find more things to do, I started to stray from my plan. It was either sitting idol at the residential dining hall on going to the gym there was some sort of temptation that tried to stop me from doing what I had to do. It wasn’t even a matter of the work being hard; as usual it was a matter of me applying myself to my work. I began to fall back into my bad high school habits. The worst part about it was I knew what was happening and I didn’t do much to stop it. I was never a library person because in the past, whenever I went to the library I ended up going something that took my attention away from the task at hand. To make what I was doing even more naïve, I was doing this despite the fact that I was promised a car if I kept my grades up, but it just was not happening. It wasn’t until mid-term time that I made the decision to begin going to the library because my room situation was not cohesive with my attempts. But after mid-terms my tendencies began to come back. This time though, it wasn’t as bad and I made it to the end of the semester with an average grade.

            Second semester arrives and it starts out with bad. Because of certain issues I was not able to register for my classes until a week into the semester so I started out with a lot of work to do. The classes I chose for the second semester were English 102, Philosophy, Ethics and Sociology. Although most of the classes started off good I noticed that as I tried to work on the work that I missed in the first week I saw myself still behind but I kept going trying to do better than I did the last semester. By mid-term I was doing a bit better than I was in the previous semester but nothing too special. I still letting the bad habits stop me from getting my work done and it wasn’t making my situation any better. Spring break came around and it was well anticipated. I planned to go to Florida, have some fun and then come back ready to get some work done when I got back to school. I ended up not going on my trip and instead I stayed home. Surprisingly, I got two essays done while I was home for the week and I felt like that was a good sign. When I got back I did alright for the first week and then I went back to procrastinating. As I coasted, I saw the year coming to an end and I didn’t want to fail a class so I decided to try and get as much work done as I can.

            With the end of the semester right around the corner I came to the conclusion that in the year to come I have to do everything different. There is no way to eliminate all distractions but in order to make a change there has to be something new. I plan on cutting out my social tendencies, drastically. As cliché as it may sound the library is going to be another home for me. With the obligations I may have next year, there will be no place for coasting especially if I plan to achieve my grand plan of transferring and working towards my PharmD; a task that will be impossible if I keep the habits that I have now. Next year I am trying out for the football team. That is one of the ways I plan to use to try and help myself to stay focused. Since there is a requirement to play, I will have to keep my grades up and I’m not going to let grades stop me from playing. In the recent weeks that have passes I feel I have begun on the road to change and I plan to keep it up.

Parade Riddim Blog

Emeka Igbokwe
Pathways
Blog 3
February 4, 2011

Parade Riddim

    I press play on my Ipod and I hear the tap of a symbol four times; tap-tap-tap-tap. The beat immediately drops after that. The hard beat is a synthesized note but it sounds like a slow and irregular heart beat. Boom boom, boom boom, boom, three times consecutively until the heart beat sound changes. Its almost like steps to a dance 1-2 1-2-3. In a car with some nice bass speakers this beat would crash down the street. After the third time the beat turns changes into a sound that is almost like the sound of a bee buzzing. Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz-buzz  another three times but on the fourth you hear buzz buzz buzz. A second later an electronic horn blows twice and at the same time the heart beat begins again. The horn and heart beat repeats 5 times and then the sequences are repeated throughout the riddim in reverse and then in correct order.
     At the beginning of the song along with the first heart beat sound a cryptic-like chorus plays in the background. The chorus sounds like the beginning of the Halo video game on a loop, gives the riddim a celestial feel. At first it plays for about 21 seconds, then it goes out for another 21 seconds. Thinking that it would play in that sequence for the whole song, I am surprised to hear that it only plays for about 9 seconds and does not play for about 30 seconds after. I feel like I am listening to angels sing while playing video games while at a party dancing. This for sure is a odd combination, but at the same time a euphoric sense.
    With this riddim, the DJ that created it decided to put a few, choice words in it. Most of the time there are no words in a riddim alone, until the artists that are given the riddim make the song with it. The voice in the song if that of Gappy Ranks a reggae/dancehall artist. He was one of the artists who made a song on this riddim. Half way threw the song, lines from the song play and every few bars they repeat. The last sounds heard are the horns, bumbum seven times and then four or five seconds later the fading out of the halo chorus.

A bold Sole

Emeka Igbokwe
Pathways
Blog1
February 6 2011

    Its my first winter in Dartmouth Massachusetts and I'm rather enjoying it. The weather is just like I expected of an area near water. Loads of snow dumped all over campus and as a December baby I feel just at home. I never understood why people scorn snow so much. Snow is one of the most beautiful natural occurrences to me. I'm one of those people that can sit at a window and just watch the snow fall for hours until a get tired. The next day I wake up just as excited to look out the window and the powdered covered trees. Its such a sight to see for me. I'm one of those kids that never really minded shoveling because I would be playing in the snow at the same time.
    About a week after returning from winter break me and a group of friends were at the residential dining hall and it had been snowing for a few hours. That snow added to the snow that was already on the ground was the perfect amount for a snowball fight. It had been years since I last had a snowball fight and I was ready for this. Quickly, word of the snowball fight spread through the room. It was funny seeing people walk back and forth whispering in each others ears saying, “Snowball fight in the quad after dinner.” After the message was sent one of two responses was seen; either a smile and a nod saying yes they were going to be there or a I scowl and a look replying, “what do I look like playing in the snow its too cold for all of that.” Nevertheless, we got our group and headed back to the quad. The fight started as we walked to the quad. Unsuspecting girls got thrown into piles of snow while guys started tackling other guy. It was a fun ten minute walk that fueled us to want start right that moment an all out battle. Instead, we agreed to go inside and change into more comfortable clothes and come back out a 8 o’clock.
    When everyone came back out we decided to make the game man-hunt/ snowball fight boys vs. girls then we started. 45 minutes later were still playing hard. I get hit in the back and pursue who the group closest to me. The turn the corner behind the building I live in. so I don’t get ambushed a call two guys and the three of us start the chase. We get to the open field the my window faces and its nothing but a blanket of snow. In that blanket is the footprints of the girls that ran in this direction. I look closer and I can see the exact imprint of their shoes. It was three girls, two of them it was obvious what shoes they were wearing but the other was questionable. I saw it was a flat bottom shoe which was weird because its foolish to be running in snow with no grip; that’s how someone slips and hurts themselves. I follow the tracks a little more and I start to recognize the shape of the shoe. It was flat but I had a little heel to it. A few more feet ahead and what I see slaps me in the face. I exclaim, “Hey! Who wears Sperrys in to play in the snow?” I stood there and laughed; one of these girls is running around with a pair of Sperry Top-Sider Boat shoes on. She is officially a prime target! Wearing a pair of Sperrys in the snow is almost like walking around barefoot. Within ten minutes you'll have frozen toes. Sperrys are low too so if the snow is over three inches there will be snow in the shoe too. The now outside while we were playing was up to six or seven inches so which ever girl was out here in those would be in pain soon.
    I never found out who the girl was that night. She finally realized it was a bad idea to be running around in boat shoes. Boat shoes are stylish for sure, but they lack, highly, in the winter functional department. I have a few pair myself, but I would never wear them in that kind of situation. She would have been pretty angry if she got frostbitten toes.