Monthly Archives: April 2012

On Placement Tests

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Today, I technically passed and failed my placement test.

So how was I able to get both results in just one test? Well if you are not familiar with it, let me take you on a little detour: In the United States, you have to take a Placement Test in order to enroll in the high school/college that you prefer. You will encounter only the subjects Mathematics and English to 1) determine your language and math skills, and 2) for the school to know which kind of Math and English classes to place you. The results of the exam don’t specifically say if you “passed” or if you “failed”. The proctor of the exam will hand you a piece of paper that says the grade that you got from each test, and then at the bottom you will see which English and Math classes you’re supposed to take.

…or at least that’s how it went for me.

I am planning to take Medical Assisting at the College of Marin here in Novato, California, and in order for me to enroll in the said college, I have to take their placement test. So I did. Twice.

Okay, not entirely two times but it still went that way…kind of. Well the first one was a bummer and a waste of time because after the first 40 minutes of the test, all the computers started to crash down. At first, the proctor just went back to the website where the test was at, and entered his password. But like I said, all computers were crashing down so he had to do that to every person’s computer in that room. We were just 8 that day, but it still took at least a minute for him to access the website. After he does that to every computer, we were able to go back to the same phase we were at before the computer crashed down, then after answering two questions, the same problem happened again. That little charade the computer system had going on continued for some 15 minutes until the older guys who were taking the test got pissed. The proctor finally came out with the idea that we should all just call the office the following Monday (this happened last Friday, by the way) and set another appointment to continue the exam.

That’s obviously not a pretty experience.

So from last Friday up to this week’s Thursday, I honestly did not review some more except on the way to the college. My exam’s part two took some 2 hours and 30 minutes. Reading comprehension, sentence structure, college level Math, elementary algebra, arithmetic, and essay writing. Yes. It was that difficult.

So the results of the exam was a mixture of awesomeness and retardation. Well my English tests had excellent scores, while my Math tests’ scores just went straight down the toilet. However, I am not shy to share them to you. So here goes a snapshot of it, straight from Instagram:

My Course Placement said I can enroll in English 150, as I’ve understood, it is the “college level” English, and it’s a transferable course to US/CSU. However, I cannot take the Math 130, their “college level” Math. I can take Math 95 though. 😦

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Don’t eat, be skinny.

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Tonight, I scrolled through a blog of a teenager‘s quest to be skinny. I was not able to read a lot from her page as it consists more of reblogged pictures of skinny women that I suppose are her “inspirations”. Aside from those, and her very short text posts about how insecure she feels about her body, she also posted a picture of her almost naked body (her head out of picture) to show her followers her “progress”.

Coming from someone who’s not in shape, she is not doing herself a favor. I know when it comes to being healthy, I’m not the one you’re supposed to be hearing advice from. But I know for a fact that starving yourself does not make you any better. I am not sure if her parents, or older siblings (if ever she has any), are aware of what she is going through, because she obviously doesn’t care about what she is really doing to herself. All she cares about is fitting in to a crowd full of skin-bone models who believe they are at their best. I assume she already knows the consequences of her actions, and that she doesn’t care because of what’s set in her head: she’s determined to have that 110 lbs. body.

I am a concerned netizen, yes, but I am usually not the type of person who would bother writing a blog about you not unless you’re a very important part of my life and that I have all the words to describe our relationship. However, her case really does worry me. I even sent her a message:

jessicafuentes asked: Hi. I don’t mean anything insulting or offending, but being skinny is not the definition of being beautiful. It doesn’t make you perfect. Sure it makes you look good on the outside, makes you more confident, lets you wear all kinds of clothes, etc. But that doesn’t make you beautiful. At all. Being healthy and having a kind heart does. What I said is conflicting with what you’re blogging about, but I guess we are all entitled to our opinions.. Guess that’s it. Just my two cents.

I am not sure if I sounded off friendly (I don’t think so either) but I just wanted to get those words out off my chest, while in hopes of her replying to me and actually proving me wrong…that she’s not wanting to be as skinny as those girls are in her photos, and that she wants to be healthy. But man, she didn’t. And I quote her:

“being skinny will make me feel beautiful. That’s all there is to it.”

And all I was able to say to myself was, “she’s crazy”. I figured that with that kind of mindset, sending her another message was not a good idea. I mean, she doesn’t care so why should she listen? And who am I for her to listen to?

Pfft.

What concerns me  more, aside from the fact that she wants to be pin-thin, is that she is just 15 years old. Yes. Very young, indeed. At that age, what she should mind is just doing good in school so she’d have a chance of going to a good university. Unfortunately, that kid was exposed too much to all sorts of media. There goes the television showing her commercials of how being thin is lovelier and sexier, TV programs that only have pretty and skinny girls as their lead characters that end up having the best of endings. Glossy magazines that have very inviting pictures of models that can never be beyond 100 lbs. Then there’s music, with bunches of pretty-faced dudes, telling her how much sexy girls attract them. And of course, we have the mighty Internet that is working 24/7 just to tell her that with a body full of fat, she can never fit into the society full of girls with thick make-ups, clothes too small and tattered that they don’t look like normal clothes at all, heels too high they’re considered as weapons of mass destruction, and boys with buff bodies telling her they’d only date girls who “fit in”. So basically, she’s left with no choice but do what the media is telling her. Because if she wouldn’t, she’d never live a happy life.

A preview of her blog.

But you know what? Bullshit. That’s it totally, undeniably, I-swear-to-my-dead-dogs-graves-and-to-my-brother’s-bacon-underwear, complete bullshit.

Again, this is coming from someone unhealthy. I would  already be extremely happy if we had the same body because I’m 30 pounds heavier than her. But because of what her mind believes is beautiful, she sees herself as someone who’s as large as a cow, when in fact, she has the ideal body most teenage girls would die for. Unluckily, she’s not seeing that. I feel sad for her. I really do.

My third point here is, her blog can influence a lot more girls. Just imagine how much more girls will be victimized by this epidemic anorexia that she is rooting for. Right now, reaching the age of 80 makes you very lucky. But if their generation will continue this very dangerous lifestyle to the point of passing it down to the next ones, age 50 will be a miracle. Personally, I’d like to live long enough to see my future grandchildren; so if I’m going to make a move, it’s going to be towards having a healthy life and being “skinny” will never be the center of my movement. I don’t want to be remembered by my future grandkids as a female meatball, as much as I don’t want to be remembered by them as a female pretzel stick.

There.

So whoever is reading this, please, for the sake of my dead dogs’ grave and my brother’s bacon underwear, do not succumb to what the media is telling you. Being skinny just covers a mere 1% of being beautiful. What matters is who you are entirely. What matters is the remaining 99%: your kind heart, your lively spirit, your Faith, and your healthy lifestyle. If the person next to you says otherwise, I am telling you s/he’s not a good influence for you. I am not saying that I am, but I just know this in my heart for a fact.

Late Nights & Early Mornings. #3

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Hi all!

This is the part where I tell you all kinds of excuses of why I have not been active the past weeks. Also, this is also the part where I promise you that I will never bail out on you guys again, that I will never let anything become a hindrance between our blogger-reader relationship, that I will become more committed to this blog. After all, I call myself a blogger. Writing should be my thread. Right?

However, I am not going to do that as I find no real reason for my absence, aside from procrastination and not knowing what to actually write about. Of course, that is inexcusable. So there is no way I am going to be all mushy and such on here.

Anyway, today is the 17th of April, exactly 2:04am. And yes, you’re correct. This post is yet another installment to my growing list of blog posts that are not brightly titled, as I am too dumb (and/or lazy) to think of appropriate titles. What pushed me to write today, actually, is the book that I have finished reading last week. It’s called Sarah’s Key and it was written by Tatiana de Rosnay, published last 2007.

The book was perfectly decent, if I may be bold. It was not the absolute thrilling type, but at the same time, it was not boring to read. The story contained just enough excitement for the reader to keep on reading, not unless it’s the genre the reader was really looking for. The story, as it was built up around historical facts, was also educational. I was never the one who really read every single chapter of my history book back in high school, so knowing all these facts about the Holocaust in Paris really moved me, as well as inspired me to write on here. What’s cooler about it was how history was incorporated into a handful of smart and twisting creativity. Indeed, a job well done!

An hour ago, I have seen the film adaptation of this novel and, I must say, my expectations were not really met. I want to think that it’s only because I expected too much from it, but then I think not. As I read some reviews of the film on Rotten Tomatoes (Sarah’s Key’s page), I figured that it was not just me who had noticed plot problems in the film. Since I have read the book before I watched the film, I knew beforehand what was going to happen. What took me aback was the fact that they actually took out and/or edited a lot of parts of the novel that I believe were very vital parts of the story. They may not entirely be considered as the “back bone” of the story, and this editing of the story line has been a very active part of the film-making industry, I still firmly believe that with their strategy, they took away the vividness and the strength of the film.

With all that said, I give to you the final judgment of RT on the film.

That bar (or Tomatometer) actually made me believe that 73% was a good rating. Until I saw the movie…and the note under the 73%. 6.4 out of 10. Not a bad movie, because it went beyond 5; which I think was because of Kristin Scott Thomas and Mélusine Mayance’s very good acting.

So, are you interested to see the movie? My blog post’s intention was NOT to discourage you to ever see the film. It was just my opinion. Anyway, if you here, here goes the link of the movie’s free online streaming. I hope you find it more interesting than I did. 🙂

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