Suffermore Year is OVER (Updates!)

Hi everyone!
I'm so happy to be back on the blog to update you on everything that has happened since I last posted. Suffer-more year is finally over and to be fair, I actually had a really good spring semester. On December 28 of 2017, I told myself that I could not bring any issues or negativity into my 2019 so I cut some people off, set some higher goals and here we are.  Since the last time I posted, I have:

1. Mastered the art of working full time while going to full school time
Its initially absolutely exhausting, but do-able if you're organized and extremely determined.

2. Made a grateful list every Sunday and put it in a grateful jar
I enjoy this new practice the most because it makes me settle down  for 2-3 minutes and reflect on all the great things I experienced that week. On New Years Day of 2020, I'm going to read them all and make a memory board ^_^

3. Achieved my financial goals $$$
Enough said.

4. Changed my education plan
Upon starting college I wanted to graduate with a degree in Political Science.
Then, I wanted to graduate with a degree in Political Science and a Masters in Teaching.
Now,  I wanted to graduate with a degree in Political Science, obtain 2 language certificatiions (Chinese and Spanish), and graduate with a Masters of Accounting.

5. Had an ENTIRE 20th birthday photoshoot (photocreds: lnot_el)

9.  Been a Snapchat Filter

10. Danced in front of people

11. Started Learning a New Language (its Spanish)

12. Got into the Rice in Argentina Program

13. Found the $6,000 needed for Rice in Argentina program

14. Been disappointed that the program was cancelled and that the $6k was non-transferable

15. Quickly found another study abroad program in Chile

16. Awarded scholarships to cover the Chile program

17. Dropped my LED computer and broke the screen (twice)

18. Created a college course that I will teach at Rice in Spring of 2020

19. Became a much better teacher

20. Became a much better caregiver

21. Became a happier and more fulfilled person


That's a little bit of what I've done so far this year. What's been going on in your world this year?

P.S. Look out for Chile posts! I'm going to Valparaiso this summer ^_^

Suffer-more Year Fall Semester Issues: Money Problems (Part 1)

Hi everyone!

I apologize for my long hiatus. My suffer-more (sophomore) fall semester 2018 just so happened to be very difficult for me and this is the first part what happened.

The week before the semester started, I moved living spaces and started working for a potential new client. I work as a caregiver which encompasses tutoring, babysitting, child transportation, and nannying. This family wanted me to nanny for the week and continue nannying throughout the fall semester. I was so excited to start working with them. I loved their daughter and during the day we would go to the park and have lunch and just really enjoy the day. On the 3rd day of me working for them, I notice some unusual bites on my ankles and I look up to see their daughter--sitting on the couch-- plucking some sort of creature off of her skin. She says "Aw man, I got a flee." I am so confused I ask her to repeat herself. "A flee," she says, and then continues to support her point by letting me watch it jump off of her fingers into thin air. I am befuddled and upset that the parents did not immediately come out to alert me. When I bring up the bites and the fleas, these clients brush it off as if it is something normal. As you've already inferred, I had to quickly quit that job.

      As a result, I became paranoid. My skin started to break out with bumps all over and they remained for weeks to follow. I was terrified that I'd have to shave my head and burn all my clothes. I had just moved into my new place! What if I brought fleas in? I felt extremely overwhelmed and stressed.

Fortunately I got another job and I started working about 29-45 hours a week, going to school every single day, leaving exactly 0 minutes for myself. I found out later that this was a very poor decision.
I had an after school job, an evening job, a night job, a late night job and once a month a morning job. 5 jobs! 5 jobs, 16 credit hours, and only me to do it.

P.S. There's a part 2 to my money problems suffermore year so look out for that. I will be uploading more this semester. I promise ^_^

Blogger to Vlogger?

Hi everyone!
I've recently started a joint YouTube channel with my friend called CXC. I'm really excited for all the cool relatable content that will be posted. I'm also excited to see how my skills develop as a video editor. Just in the videotaping, editing, and release of the videos already available, I've learned so much about patience, time management, and video scheduling efficiency.  The clean look of a video is so much harder to produce than I could've ever imagined. Embarking on this new project has inspired me to be more creative and allowed me another outlet to express myself to the world. I'm very excited.
Watch out world for CXC (Click here to visit our channel)!
Latest video:
CXC Presents 42 Ways to Avoid Annoying People
Recommended:
Watch our introduction video here!
IN OTHER NEWS,
Camy's Corner will also be making its way to YouTube as well! Official release will be discussed in future posts!

As always thanks for all the support!
See you soon ^_^

Sorry About That Hiatus: I'm Back

Hi everyone!

Let me start off by saying I’m sorry for the impromptu hiatus I didn’t mean to take. After mid-terms, I got so caught up in school and working that I sort of forgot about personal writing and connecting with my blog viewers so...my bad! Fortunately, I’M BACK! I’m back to writing and recording my experiences and I’m ready to share them with you. Let me start off with a few highlights since I last posted.

In March, I gave my first TedTalk! I had been writing my speech for 3 months. Then, I had to go through the editing and rewrite process in addition to the countless meetings with my curator and the dubious stares I would get as I walked down populated halls reciting my speech to myself. The day of the talk was nerve-wracking! I had practiced it one million times and invited all my friends to watch. More importantly, amongst the audience sat my high school debate teacher and my boss! While waiting for the audience to sign-in and be seated, I officially met the other speakers. All of them women, amazing, diverse with stories to tell and full of energy. I sat through 3 talks until it was finally my turn. My palms were sweaty and I was so excited-nervous-anxious, but I saw my friends sitting in the audience smiling at me so I knew I couldn’t go wrong. I said the first word and like water, the rest of the words just flowed. I became the story full of animation and excitement. I utilized every pause to emphasize my points and even filled potentially awkward moments with some laughs. Before I knew it, I was done smiling before a room of applause and proud head nods.  What a rush! What an icon ^_^

Link here: https://youtu.be/12sBoz6ylbU

April was the last month of school and full of tension. I had finals, more demand for my tutoring services, and sudden expansion in my caregiving business. With so many priorities, so little time, and too much stress, I spent whatever free time I had running, going to the masseuse, and watching Scandal. I also had to move all of my stuff into storage and pick a few things to live off of in the upcoming month. April was extremely overwhelming and I’m glad that was the end of the semester because I truly started to become burned out. Fortunately, my university is very conscientious about that and the leaders of my college made us baked goods, hosted an evening making pottery, and had late night snacks every night of finals. We also had pet therapy dogs and pop-up petting zoos to help reduce general stress. My school >>>>

The month of May was lined with a personal expectation that was absolutely crazy. My goal was to save money at all costs. I bought $34 worth of food and lived off of that for the month. I also stopped taking Ubers and started walking everywhere I went. Once I realized that walking 12 miles a day in the blazing sun was absolutely exhausting, I taught myself how to use the bus. The bus became my saving grace. Its air conditioned, in-expensive, and takes me where I need to go. Bless up! I took on more random jobs like working for Minecraft for two days or selling textbooks when I could. Fortunately, May wasn't all work. I received free tickets to JMBLYA, an outdoor music festival, and spent free time bonding with my friends. May was an amazing month. May made me a conqueror. 

All the hard work in May prepared me for rest in June. I traveled to Oakland, California to visit my friend that I met in China. I had an amazing time! We hiked mountains, went thrift shopping, cooked food, and took lots of pictures. I also got to, literally, run through University of California Berkeley and eat soup dumplings that I miss so much from Shanghai. We went to San Francisco together to meet up with another friend! San Francisco was also so much fun! I got to tour Google with my friends and try restaurants featured on Insider Foods, and we all got to walk the Golden Gate Bridge together! It was so amazing. It was like I was living a dream. After California, I flew to Seattle to visit another one of my amazing friends from college! He took me to see the Space Needle and the famous Pike's Market Place that'd I'd only seen on Instagram. I got to eat lots of amazing food and meet even more amazing people. I had a great time traveling up the West Coast.

And now its July and I'm back!
I'm back with several new projects in the works including building a strong YouTube channel and being on the ground floor of an amazing new app that will be released soon called Croozen. Can't wait to see what the school year has for me :D

My Black Panther Experience

Hi everyone! (Heyyy Auntie!)

I just finished watching a screening of Black Panther and I feel so overcome with emotion in this moment. I'm so excited to see so many beautiful people who look like me portrayed as intelligent, strong, and powerful! I'm proud to be black and polyglotonous. I am flooded with happiness that I can finally see my mom, my dad, my aunts, my family, my friends, and myself in a movie in their respective roles as warriors, culture keepers, protectors, kings and queens. I feel like I've chosen the pill of knowledge to be able to recognize that I've been bombarded with other cultures versions of beauty, but not my own. In that, I am eternally grateful for the creation, execution, and release of this amazing movie. Thank you for normalizing black excellence and raising the bar that much higher; I'm ready to strive higher and achieve more as a direct descendant of Wakanda; I am ready to put on my crown and lead the nations.

Midterm Update: Spring Edition

Hi everyone!

I'm back with my midterm update. I have followed through with the plans outlined in the last post and have been very successful in focusing on myself. Honestly, when you're working 30 hours a week plus taking on 18 credit hours, there's not much else you can do besides focus on yourself and grow.

Like the clipping split ends of my hair, I cut all potential sources of pain, anxiety, and stress out of my life. When I do face emotional challenges, I talk it through with my friends and people I know have my best interest at heart. I'm thriving in my new independence and it makes me a whole other level of beautiful. I am practicing taking life day by day and spending time with the people that make me smile the most. Being surrounded by my friends and people that love me is the best way, and in my opinion most efficient way, to spend my rest time when I have it.

I have friends ^_^

I am still on my quest to save up the $33,000 needed for graduate school and it's a lot of hard work. However, I'd much rather endure and work hard now so that I don't have to worry about starting my adult life under the weight of debt and student loans. I want to be able to comfortably attend graduate school and have the option of working rather than attend graduate school with a mandate of working. 

I C O N I C

As I look towards the future, I can expect academic excellence in all day classes, exceeding the expectations on all my jobs, and surprising myself with new tidbits of self-discovery. I, personally, am most excited for Spring Break, my birthday ( March 7 ❤️), and my upcoming TedTalk! There are so many amazing things ahead of me and this is just a sample of what greatness is to come. 

"SKY'S THE LIMIT"

Next Steps for 2018

Hi everyone! 

I hoped you've had a very merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. I'm grateful to say that I truly have enjoyed this winter break and all of the festivities. This month has been absolutely crazy; I've never been so busy. At the start of the month, I was preparing for finals and starting a new job while playing in the Powderpuff championships and maintaining my other two jobs. Although, extremely busy (and sometimes stressful), my first semester has been nothing less than eventful and noteworthy. I've learned so much about myself—my strengths and my shortcomings—and I've grown to appreciate myself more and fully understand how I should be treated. Looking back at past behaviors and relationships make me laugh sometimes because every time I think back, I ask myself,

What were you going through? Where is your self-love?

After completing a full semester of classes, clubs, coaches, sports, tests, quizzes, multiple jobs, and a romantic interest, I am completely exhausted. Yes, I did arrange the semester and choose to be super involved because I wanted to be busy and have the complete college experience. However, despite my appreciation for all the smiles and warm memories of late night snacks with my study buddies and spending time with my friends, going forth I have a different idea of how I want to live and what I want to focus on. Instead of dividing my attention between exploring the new city, making friends, and all the obligations previously listed, I'm going to bring it back to square one and just focus on myself. I'm going to focus on my mental health, taking care of my body, and pay attention of my feelings.  More than anything, I want to focus on loving myself.

Next semester is about constantly doing acts of self-love. I’m ready to get back to working hard and trying to earn a little money in the meantime, but more than anything I’m excited to spend time with my friends, explore more of the city, and build new relationships.